The free harbor contest at Los Angeles : an account of the long fight waged by the people of Southern California to secure a harbor located at a point open to competition

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The free harbor contest at Los Angeles

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THE

pREE Harbor Contest

AT LOS ANGELES

nn ACCOUNT op the long piout wsgcd by the people

or SOUTHERN OTLIPORNIR TO SECURE K H7\RB0R

LOOTTED KT 3 POINT OPEN TO

COnPETITION

There Is a tide In the affairs of men.
Which, tahen at the flood leads on to fortune ;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound In shallows and In miseries."— Julius Caesar,

Bg CHARLES DWIOHT WILLSRD

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Kinqsley-Barnes & Neuner Company, Publishers
JULY. iSgg

|\A^H^n^

THE AUTHOR DEDICATES THIS BOOK TO

JOHN F. FRANCIS,

NOT FROM ANY SENTIMENT OF PERSONAL REGARD, ALTHOUGH SUCH A
SENTIMENT EXISTS, BUT BECAUSE HB IS AN ADMIRABLE REPRE-
SENTATIVE OF THE TYPB OF MODERN AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP
THAT UNDERSTANDS AND ACCEPTS ITS RESPONSIBILITIES
TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC, AND THAT FINDS IN ITS
INDIVIDUAL PROSPERITY SOMETHING ABOVE
AND BEYOND THE MEANS FOR PLEASURE
OR THE OPPORTUNITY FOR CON-
TINUED SELFISH GAIN.

Copyrighted July, 1S99

By Chadlss Dwiqht Willabd

Lofl Angelei, CbI.

CONTKNTS.

CHAPTER I. NATURE OF THE CONTEST. River and harbor
bills. Corporate influences. Prejudice against the Southern Pacific Rail-
way in California. Effect of the contest on the city of Los Angeles.

CHAPTER II. WHY THE HARBOR WAS NEEDED. Opportu-
nity for trans-Pacific Commerce. Oriental business at present. Advan-
tages of a southwestern port. San Pedro a natural harbor.

CHAPTER III. THE ANCIENT PORT OP SAN PEDRO. Dis-
covery and exploration. The Mission era. Dana's visit. Description
of the harbor.

CHAPTER IV. WORK ON THE INTERIOR HARBOR. Possi-
bilities for development. The first appropriation. Result of the work.
The great boom of 1887. Birth of the deep-sea harbor idea.

CHAPTER V. ENTER THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. A
unique organization. Scope of its work. Deep-sea agitation begins.
Senator Frye visits the harbor. His singular attitude on the question.

CHAPTER VI. THE GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS THE OUTER
HARBOR. The Board of 1890-1. It reports for San Pedro. Mr.
Huntington succeeds Gov. Stanford to the presidency of the road.

CHAPTER VII. THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC'S CHANGE OF
BASE. The early history ot Santa Monica. Redondo as a port. The
Terminal Railway. . A question of local commerce.

CHAPTER VIII. THE ISSUE TAKES SHAPE. Senator Felton's
effort for a deep-sea appropriation. The Hood telegram. Mr. T. E.
Gibbon. A new Board is appointed to investigate.

CHAPTER IX. THE CRAIGHILL BOARD. A public session.
Attitude of the Chamber of Commerce. Criticism of the Southern
Pacific. The report of the Board for San Pedro.

CHAPTER X. A DECISION THAT DID NOT DECIDE. General
Forman's mission to Washington. His report pleads for unity. W. H.
Mills speaks for the railroad at the Redondo banquet. The issue is re-
opened. Work of the Los Angeles Times.

CHAPTER XI. THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TAKES A
VOTE. Completion of the Long Wharf at Santa Monica. Mr. Hunt-
ington speaks. Mr. Crawley's resolution. Combat in the Chamber of
Commerce. The members choose San Pedro.

CHAPTER XII. THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT. White
in the Senate. Mr. Huntington's strength. The Eastern newspapers
take notice.

CHAPTER XIII. THE FREE HARBOR LEAGUE. A savage
circular. The League is formed. Col. Benyaurd's project. The inner
harbor idea.

6 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

CHAPTER XIV. THE TRAP IS SPRUNG. The League sends
delegates to Washington. Mr. Hermann of Oregon arranges matters.
He writes a letter.

CHAPTER XV. THE DOUBLE APPROPRIATION SCHEME.
Mr. McLachlan's telegram. His peculiar position. The Chamber of
Commerce on the rack.

CHAPTER XVI. THE STRUGGLE IN THE SENATE. Los An-
geles delegations before the Committee on Commerce. The two reports.
Senator White's amendment, His speech. Mr. Frye responds. The
compromise.

CHAPTER XVII. ONE MORE FINAL DECISION. Reception to
White and Perkins. The Walker Board appointed. Mr. Morgan. vSes-
sions of the Board ; its report.

CHAPTER XVIII. THE SECRETARY OF DELAY. Feeling
against the railroad. Russel A. Alger, Secretary of War. His collec-
tion of excuses. The appropriation in the House. Mr. Cooper's speech.

CHAPTER XIX. THE JUBILEE AT SAN PEDRO. Ceremonies
at the beginning of the work.

CHAPTER XX. THE PRESENT WORK. The contractors.
Nature of the specifications. The inner and outer harbor. Efforts for
further development.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

The writer finds himself under obligation to a number of people and
organizations in the preparation of this book, for courtesies of various
kinds, and he takes this means of expressing his gratitude : To the
Land of Sunshine, the Capital, Terminal Railway, Chamber of Com-
merce, City Librarian Mrs. H. C. Wadleigh, Harry E. Brook, Captain
J. J. Meyler, C. V. Barton, J. F. Francis, W. B. Cline, F. K. Rule, Ter-
minal Land Co., Southern California Lumber Co., J. R. Newberry, H.
Jevne, W. C. Patterson, P. W. Braun, L. W. Blinn, KerckhoflF-Cuzner
Co., Cal Byrne, J. E. Plater, N. Blackstone. E. W. Jones, Bishop & Co.,
N. Bonfilio, J. Ross Clark, K. Cohn & Co. , Los Angeles Farming and
Milling Co., Maier & Zobelein, Boston Store, Coulter Dry Goods Co.,
Harris & Frank, Geo. S. Patton, T. E. Gibbon, J. D. Hooker, D. C. Mc-
Garvtn, Will Knippenberg, Chas. Weir, W. D. Woolwine, Frank Wig-
gins, Harry E. Andrews, Harry Chandler.

THE TWO VIEWS.

Senator Berry of Arkansas
in the San Pedro-Santa Mon-
ica Debate before the Senate,
May nth, 1899:

Take it all in all this is the
most extraordinary proposi-
tion I have ever known to be
submitted to the Congress of
the United States.

I do not believe there is a
man throughout the whole
United States, save and ex-
cept Mr. Huntington, who
would have had the assurance,
in the face of the reports of
the army officers, to have
come to the Congress of the
United States, and asked them
to give him $3,000,000 in
money to build a breakwater
to serve his private interests.

It is much better that no
deep-water harbor should ever
be had, better far that the
money should be utterly and
absolutely ' thrown to the
winds, than that we should
make thousands of people be-
lieve that the appropriation
was made, not in the public
interests, but in order to pro-
mote the private interests of
individuals, be those individ-
uals whom they may, whether
the most powerful man in the
land or the humblest citizen
who walks this Union. In
either case, if it be once un-
derstood that the Senate will
be controlled by the reports of
private engineers made for
private individuals, then Mr.
President, the River and Har-
bor Bill will no longer be con-
sidered for the best interests
of the entire republic, but it
will be solely a question as to
who can bring the greatest in-
fluence to bear.

Senator Frye of Maine in
the San Pedro -Santa Monica
Debate before the Senate, May
i2th, 1899.

Oh, it is too paltry to un-
dertake to stop any legislation
with that cheap demagogical
cry that because Huntington
has done it, no help can be
given to Huntington. He
employs today 75,000 men ;
pays them their wages when
they are due, and there never
has been a laboring man who
has worked for him to whom
he has not given his wages
the day they were due. One
instance I know where a rail-
road was a total wreck and
owed the laborers $500,000,
and Mr. Huntington put his
hand into his pocket, gave the
$500,000 to the railroad,
wrecked as it was, took the
wrecked road as security, aud
put his energy and courage
into the railroad, and brought
it up to life, activity and value.
. . . Mr, Huntington is
not bulling the stock markets,
nor bearing them. He is not
cornering wheat or flour. He
is engaged in enormous enter-
prises, the results of which
are building up the commerce
of this republic, and in all his
enterprises he is successful.

CHAPTER I.
The Nature of the Contest.

THE Congress of the United States passes every year a
bill for the improvement of rivers and harbors, con-
taining appropriations that vary in total from twelve to
fifteen millions of dollars:

This is for expenditure direct. In addition to that, it
adopts each year a number of projects for river and harbor
improvement, for which sums amounting to an average of
over seven millions a year are subsequently paid out through
a general appropriation bill.*

The measure which is technically known as the "River
and Harbor Bill" originates in the House of Representa-
tives in the committee of that name. After it has been acted
upon by the House, it goes up to the Senate, where it is con-
sidered first by the Committee on Commerce — for the up-
per chamber has no River and Harbor committee — and then
by the whole Senate. If amendments are made by the Sen-
ate — which usually happens — the bill is likely to pass
through the hands of a Conference Committee, made up of
members from both houses, before it is finally adopted and
becomes a law.

The process of legislation by Congress is long and tedious
enough, even if the measure under consideration is gener-
ally acceptable and free from complication; but the River
and Harbor bill, which is a vast composite of special and in-
dividual interests, extends as a rule from one end of the ses-

*For example, the bill of 1896, of which the San Pedro project formed
part, contained $11,452,115 of direct appropriation, i. e. money to be
paid without further action by Congress, on deiiuitely specified work.
It also contained projects which, according to the estimates of the en-
gineers, might call for a total of $60,623,871.91. These projects would
presently be submitted to contractors, and bids taken on them. As a
rule, the bids would be under the specified sums : sometimes, as in the
case of San Pedro, requiring less than 50 per cent. The total amount
needed for the project being thus established, it is thereafter appropri-
ated in parts, not exceeding 25 per cent of the total per annum, in the
Sundry Civil Appropriation bill.

lo THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

sion to the other, and permeates, with doubtful influence,
the whole course of the legislation by which it is sur-
rounded.

The customary off-hand opinion of the American voter
with reference to the River and Harbor bill is that it is
principally made up of big steals — that it represents a sys-
tematic and organized pilfering of the government by rail-
roads, steamship companies, contractors and promoters,
aided and abetted by the various communities which the im-
provements would advantage. Such a taint will of neces-
sity attach to all measures that directly affect the business
interests of individuals, and it is only through the exercise
of the utmost discretion by the authorities of the govern-
ment, both in the system under which the work is done and
in the selection of desirable projects, that actual scandal is
avoided.*

That it is not always avoided, the extraordinary experi-
ence of the people of Los Angeles, in their effort to secure a
harbor not under corporate control — an experience which is
to be set forth in detail in this narration — will show.

The difficulties that surround the government in its work
of river and harbor improvement are greatly enhanced
by a lack of discrimination and too often by a moral ob-
tuseness on the part of the communities whose interests are
involved. It is precisely because the case of Los Angeles,
struggling for an open harbor, and at last, after a seven
years' fight, winning its cause, is analogous to the situation
of numerous other American cities, that this story needs
to be told in full, and to be given to the people in .per-
manent book form.

It is the established policy of this government to make
such improvements in its rivers and lakes as may be needed
for the interior commerce of the States, and to throw open
the coast line, by the development of new harbors and the
maintenance of those already in existence, for our own ves-
teels and those of foreign nations. But there is in this policy
no warrant for the attempt now and again made by design-
ing corporations, to bribe communities into selling their

* The name by which this measure is generally known among the
members of the House is " the Beef Barrel."

THE TRUSTS IN POLITICS. n

birthright of commercial freedom for the mess of pottage
of a few hundred thousand dollars of government appro-
priation.

The consideration of such a topic .comes not inoppor-
tunely at a time when corporate wealth is rapidly drawing
together in giant combinations that are destined, beyond
doubt, to play an important part in the legislation of the
future. As these organizations increase in strength, and
knit more closely the ties that hold them to one another, the
American people as a whole are likely to undergo a series of
trials similar to those that for the past three decades have
beset the residents of California — particularly in the
northern and central sections of the State — who know by
hard experience what it means to be subject, in business
matters to the control, and in politics to the influence, of one
all-powerful corporation. The process by which the trusts
are destined to be drawn into politics is as simple as it is
inevitable. The people believe these combinations to be a
source of harm, and they will demand the passage of laws,
both by Congress and the state legislatures, that will ac-
complish their destruction. Will the trusts tamely submit?
Not while the law of self-preservation continues in force; not
while expert lobbyists may be had to hire; not while party
workers of the mercenary class stand ready to control
caucuses and primaries and secure the nomination of pliable
men. The managers of trusts and corporations are, perhaps,
quite as conscientious as other men. They may refuse to
bribe officials; but there is nothing in our scheme of polit-
ical morality to prevent them from assisting friends to
political honors. If Congress and the state legislatures
succeed in passing laws which are obnoxious to the trusts,
then the latter will be "driven into politics" just as the
Southern Pacific has been in California. Thus the experi-
ence of the people of this State may be, within a short time,
repeated on a larger scale all over the Union.

Let it be understood at the outset, however, that this book
is not conceived in any spirit of opposition to railways or
corporations in general, nor with any animus against the
Southern Pacific in particular. The writer will frankly ad-
mit that when the harbor contest was in progress, he was an
active opponent of the railroad and its plans, and that he did

12 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

what he could as a newspaper writer, and as an officer of the
Chamber of Commerce, to assist the San Pedro location.
But the struggle is now at an end. The "Free Harbor" is
practically a fait accompli; for the contract has been let, the
work is under way, and the government is completely and
irrevocably committed to that site. The writer is, there-
fore, no longer in the situation which in former years befell
the residents of Los Angeles, viz., to take one side or the
other — for the lines of demarkation are now broken down
and obliterated — but, on the contrary, he approaches this
work in the spirit of the historian, who will do justice to
both factions and will narrate the events just as they hap-
pened.

There is an impression among Eastern people that the
residents of this State entertain a violent, unreasoning
prejudice against the Southern Pacific railroad, and
that populistic ideas are generally much in vogue
among us. The latter belief has been strengthened
and confirmed by the election of three Populists to Con-
gress from Southern California districts. As a mat-
ter of fact, there are fewer populists in this section than in
most of the western Congressional districts that cover
agricultural territory, but by the hazard of fusion pol-
itics these nominations chanced to fall to the Populist
party, which, in conjunction with the Democracy, won
several elections. The people of this State, particularly
those of the Southern section, are largely emigrants
from other portions of the Union. Broadened by the
experience that comes from travel and from living
under diff^erent circumstances and institutions, they are
less likely than people of a more conservative cast
of life to yield to prejudice of any kind, least of all to
a desire foolishly to oppose the railroad that first con-
nected their adopted home with Eastern civilization. It is
true that there existed at one time in the State, with its active
headquarters in San Francisco, an element which was known
as the "Sand Lot" — a name which was given from the loca-
tion where Denis Kearney, the agitator, was wont to hold
his meetings; and the railroad was to this element the bete
noire to which all the misfortunes that befell California in a
time of a general financial depression were attributed. The

14 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

days of Sand Lot meetings have long since passed, and, as if
to point a happy moral, the very location where they were
formerly held is now covered by beautiful buildings. The
element that still bears the name has shrunk to insignificant
proportions; its spirit is to be found only in the wild utter-
ances of some political demagogue, or the reckless and ex-
travagant denunciation of the railroad by some newspaper
that seeks by that device to attract attention from the inju-
dicious.*

*In the debate on the Santa Monica or San Pedro appropriation in the
Senate, May 12th, 1896, Senator Perkins said, in discussing this topic of
anti-railway prejudice in California :

I cannot permit to pass unchallenged the remarks made by the Sen-
ator from Missouri [Mr. Vest] and by the Senator from Maine [Mr. Frye].

The Senator from Missouri said : " Unfortunately Mr. Huntington
is a political factor in California. They test every man's competency
and qualification for ofl&ce there by the question, ' Is he for Huntington
or against him ? ' You can't hold a town meeting but what the question
is, 'Is this man a Huntington man or not a Huntington man ? ' "

Then the Senator from Maine said, referring to some remarks which
had been made by my distinguished colleague (Mr. White): "This sav-
ors of the slogan of the Sand Lots of the Golden Gate, where the name
of Huntington is used to conjure with to frighten babies, and used by
demagogues to make weak-kneed politicians tremble."

Mr. President, I dislike exceedingly to refer on this floor to any
gentleman who is not a member of this body. . . . But I say that
charge is a libel on the fair name of the good people of California, and I
should be false to those I represent if I permitted the charge of the
Senators from Maine and Missouri to pass unchallenged. The
people of California have no prejudices against Mr. Huntington
and his associates. I know nothing against Mr. Huntington
to his discredit, unless it be his own testimony before a Congres-
sional committee, and certain letters which, it is alleged, he wrote to an
associate upon the board of directors of the company with which he
was connected. . . . But I repel the charge that the people of
California seek office by declaiming against him or his associates, or by
advocating that which he desires, or by opposing it. . . .

Mr. President, the people of California in city, county and state, gave
most liberally toward building the first Transcontinental railroad. They
were in sympathy with the promoters, because the latter were in touch
with the people at that time ; and if today our people censure them, it
is because they believe they have not been true to their trust ; that they
have forgotten the common interests and the common bond which
unite their interests with the interests of the people of California.
That is the reason^ If they are censured it is because they use their
great power sometimes to thwart the wishes and desires of the people ;
but that the name of Mr. Huntington is used to influence the acts of
public men in California is untrue.

PREJUDICE AGAINST THE RAILWAY. 15

The responsible men of California, who are blessed with
brains and conscience, are not "against the Southern Pa-
cific", although they are at times compelled to oppose that
corporation in what it seeks to do. As American citizens,
they naturally resent the presence in California politics of
this sinister force; they are, however, too fair-minded to
deny that the railroad is often driven into the political arena

C. p. HUNTINGTON.

in self-defense against legislative freebooters. Such men will
deplore the indiscriminate attacks that are made on the rail-
road, and at the same time will be firm in protecting the peo-
ple's interests when the corporation seeks to overreach them.
If this constitutes "prejudice", so be it; but it is a prejudice
in favor of his own honest rights, which the Californian
shares with all his brethren of the Anglo-Saxon race.

The present narration has to deal with a contest which was
waged through a period of about eight years in the city of

i6 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

■Los Angeles and in the Nation's capital, on the question of
the location of a harbor to accommodate the commercial m-
terests of the Southwest. The Southern Pacific railroad de-
sired the harbor to be situated at Port Los Angeles, which is
near the town of Santa Monica. The engineering authorities
of the National Government had selected San Pedro as the
most available spot, and that location was favored by the
people of Los Angeles, or by a majority of them at least, be-
cause its water front was free and accessible to any number
of railroads, or private individuals, that might choose to
build wharves out into the harbor. Whether or not the har-
bor at Port Los Angeles codld be successfully invaded by
railroads competing with the Southern Pacific, was a moot
question, upon which most of the discussion of the issue
turned. The reader shall presently be put in possession of
the evidence and the argument on both sidles. Certain it is,
however, that the people of Los Angeles and the surround-
ing country — those whose interest in the question was most
direct and profound — believed that the Port Los Angeles
plan called for a monopoly harbor, and the fight was made
on that basis. After a long and determined struggle, in the
midst of which the cause of the people seemed many times
to have suffered hopeless defeat, a victory was finally won
for the San Pedro location. An appropriation of nearly
$3,000,000 was secured and the work was inaugurated.

This, in a nutshell, is the incident which this book will de-
scribe in such detail as may be necessary to give the reader a
clear idea what a fight between the people on the one side
and a determined corporation on the other is like. As we
have observed before, fights of this description may become
painfully common during the next half-century, and their
polemics will be a legitimate field of study.

A contest of such magnitude, extending through a long
period of years, and involving to some degree every element
of the community, could not fail to impress a lasting mark
upon the character of a youthful city. One may speak of
Los Angeles as youthful, for, although it was founded by
the Spaniards over a century ago, it is, in every other respect
than that of history, but twenty years old. Of those who
now make up its population probably 85 per cent are new-
comers since 1887. Los Angeles may therefore be regarded

EFFECT OF THE CONTEST. 17

as in the early stages of a lusty youth, when character is most
subject to influence by outward circumstance. To one who
has traveled among American cities, or is acquainted with
their intimate history, the mere mention of their names sug-
gests their several peculiarities, as clearly defined as those of
well known men or women. Thus, Boston expresses culture,
Philadelphia conservatism and regard for family. New York
elegance and a certain aristocratic complacency, and Chicago
is synonymous with enterprise. • Los Angeles is destined to
be one of the great cities of the Union. Its growth from
11,000 in 1880 to 120,000 at the present time is a clear indi-
cation of its future. It will doubtless have, and to some ex-
tent it has already, those definite characteristics that will
give it individuality among its sister cities. It is safe to say
that the part Los Angeles has played, in this long and bitter
struggle with a corporation which up to this time has been
practically invincible, a struggle wherein the most powerful
influences were brought to bear, and the strongest senti-
ments of the people were aroused, must have helped to de-
velop in the city those traits of courage and perseverance
that are the groundwork of all human success. If this be
true, then the San Pedro contest has brought a double
victory.

CHAPTER II.
Why the Harbor Was Needed.

THE industrial history of the United States up to the end
of this century may be divided into two epochs:
First, the agricultural period, when the chiefs effort of the
people was to develop the resources of the soil, and second,
the manufacturing period. To them is about to succeed
a commercial period, when the genius of the American peo-
ple will be devoted to the problem of marketing our surplus
products in foreign countries and to the securing of our
share in the carrying trade of the world. By the middle of
this century the United States was the greatest producer of
agricultural commodities on the globe. At the end of the
century, it leads all other countries in manufacturing; and

1 8 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

early in the twentieth century it will — unless all signs fail-
attain its legitimate supremacy in commerce.

Twenty-five years, ago we were exporting each year half a
billion dollars worth of our products and importing goods to
about the same value. Now we are exporting over a billion
dollars worth annually, while the imports have increased but
little. What relation manufacturing bears to this prosper-
ous showing is revealed by the presence of such items as
these in the list for 1898: Agricultural implements $7,609,-
000, Copper manufactures $32,180,000, Bicycles $6,846,-
000, Iron and steel products $70,406,000, Leather and
leather articles $21,113,000, Hog products $110,801,000,
Flour $69,263,000, Wooden manufactures $37,513,000.

On the other hand, when we consider the part played by
this country in the world's carrying trade, we note that in
i860 the tonnage of American vessels amounted to 5,299,-
175 against 5,710,968 of Great Britain and 4,000,000 of all
other countries. In 1890 the figures were. United States
4,424,497, Great Britain 11,597,106 and other countries
7,000,000; and at present United States 4,769,020, Great
Britain 13,641,116, Germany 2,006,950 and all other coun-
tries 7,000,000. When it is remembered that 90 per cent
of the American tonnage is engaged in domestic or coast-
wise trade, it will be seen that our vessels cut an almost in-
significant figure in the world's commerce.

These facts, which are not particularly gratifying to the
American's patriotism, are quoted merely to show how we
have, in our devotion to the manufacturing interests of the
country, overlooked the commercial. While other nations
have fostered and encouraged by legislation and by force of
a patriotic sentiment the building of ships and the develop-
ment of deep-sea trade, we have turned all our energies to-
ward that which we seemed chiefly to need, to-wit, manu-
facturing; and the splendidly profitable work of carrying
the world's commodities from one nation to another, and,
indeed, between our own nation and others has been allowed
to drift entirely away from us.

But it is not alone the carrying trade that we have neg-
lected, until it is lost and may be won back only by a hard
struggle; we have lost, with respect to many countries, the
very trade itself. To fail to hold our place in the rank of

TRANS-PACIFIC OPPORTUNITIES. 19

transporters is one thing; to suffer good markets
to remain closed to us through indifference and mis-
management is another and a more serious one.
The man who fails to earn the money that is legit-
imately his is the loser thereby, quite as much as he
who parts with the same amount on some unlucky venture.

This has particular application to our trans-Pacific com-
merce. The oriental countries of China, Japan, British
Australasia, Corea and Siberian Russia, the Philippines and
the French and Dutch East Indies, lie nearer to the United
States by a thousand miles or more than they do to Europe.
These countries contain over 800,000,000 of population, and
their area exceeds that of Europe and the United States
combined. Their capacity for commerce, both as to what they
produce for exportation and what they need to buy in return,
is almost unlimited, although it has been as yet but partially
developed. The real awakening of Japan has occurred only
within the last ten years. That country, with a population
of 41,000,000 and an area of 147,000 square miles, receives
and sends out $280,000,000 worth of products each year,
and of this the United States handles little less than one-
fourth. When the same awakening comes to China with
its 4,000,000 square miles and 400,000,000 of population,
and to Siberian Russia, whose 6,500,000 square miles of ter-
ritory are now being penetrated with a vast railway system
that will bring its products out to Pacific waters at Vladivo-
stock, what splendid opportunities will then be presented for
American thrift and energy to create for this nation a com-
mercial empire in the Orient !

The present commerce of the trans-Pacific countries is
estimated at $2,000,000,000 annually. We import from,
those countries $150,000,000 each year and export to them
$65,000,000. The disparity in these figures is all the more
glaring when we compare them with the totals of our own
exports and imports, which show that while twenty-five per
cent of our total imports come from the Orient, but five per
cent of our exports go to those shores. In short, the money
that we pay the Mongolian for his curios and mattings, his
teas and silks, goes to Europe to buy him woolens and canned
goods and machinery. The United States, which is the
legitimate and natural commercial ally of the whole Orient,

20 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

is today receiving but seven per cent of its business, the re-
maining ninety-three per cent going largely to England,
France and Germany, on the far opposite side of the globe.

Two events that took place in the year 1898 presaged the
end of this anomalous condition of affairs. These were the
battle of Manila Bay, May ist, and the formal annexation of
the Hawaiian Islands, August 12th. The United States is
no longer a stranger in the Orient; it is now a free-holder
there, and will maintain its right to all privileges, commer-
cial and otherwise, that such rank conveys. Up to last year
our exports to the Philippines averaged a little over
$100,000 annually, as against nearly $20,000,000 which they
paid to Spain for its products. In an open market, practi-
cally all of that business would come to us. With Manila
for a base of operations, American business skill and enter-
prise will push its way into every corner of the Orient, and
when the inevitable awakening comes to those vast hordes,
they will minister to our needs, and we to theirs. The two
billions of commerce will expand to three or four, and the
gain will be largely to America.

Having considered the opportunity, let us now inquire
into the facilities which we possess for meeting it. Unlike
the Atlantic, the Pacific ocean is provided by nature with but
few ports that are adapted to deep-sea commerce. The
Puget Sound country has two, in Seattle and Tacoma; and
the Columbia River presents a third at Portland. The Bay
of San Francisco constitutes an excellent natural harbor;
but south of that city for six hundred miles, the coast is in-
hospitable to the ocean-going vessel, until San Diego is
reached, at the extreme southwestern corner of the Union.
. The Northern Pacific and the Great Northern railways,
and the Union Pacific, through the Oregon Short Line and
Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's lines, carry the
Oriental products that come into the three Northern ports,'
across the Western States to the Twin Cities and to Chicago,
and the East. The Southern and Central Pacific (two
routes of the same system) perform that service for San
Francisco; and the Santa Fe for San Diego. The recent
purchase by the Santa Fe of the Valley Railroad, which was
an independent line built chiefly by the subscriptions of San
Francisco people, through the San Joaquin Valley along the

WHERE ORIENTAL BUSINESS IS DONE. 21

middle of the State, puts that great system, which has ex-
ercised such an important influence in the upbuilding of the
southern section of California, into the city of the Golden
Gate. Within a few months — certainly before the end of
1899 — San Francisco will enjoy the advantage for which
she has so long clamored, of competition in railroad trans-
portation. It is safe to predict, however, that under the
highly amicable arrangement that at present prevails be-
tween the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe, no sudden
change will occur in the commercial fortunes of that city.

The Oriental business is at the present time done almost
entirely through the three northwestern ports and San Fran-
cisco. The harbor of San Diego, while it is of sufficient
depth for trans-Pacific trade, has thus far remained practi-
cally undeveloped, although a regular line of steamers from
that port to Yokohama has recently started into operation.
Overtures have at various times been made to the San Diego
people by the proprietors of Japanese lines, but satisfactory
arrangements could not be effected. The difficulties in the
way were, first, that the country immediately surrounding
San Diego does not produce, in any quantity, the commod-
ities which are needed for the return cargo, and, second, its
railway facilities, as determined by location, grades, etc.,
do not admit of its competition with the other deep-sea har-
bors of the coast. These are difficulties which will be over-
come in time, as the country about San Diego develops,
and other railway lines are secured. That it is destined to
be one of the great shipping points of the Pacific coast, no
one can doubt.

There are now 2,000 arrivals of ships annually at the ports
in Puget Sound, and 1,300 annually at Portland, in the Col-
umbia river. San Francisco bay, which has served as the
western terminus of a transcontinental line since 1865, and
which is most favorably located of all the ports, greets 2,200
ships annually. These figures do not, of course, include
coast trade, which does not bear on the present discussion.
The freight that comes in is tea, rice, sugar (from Hawaii),
silks, curios, tropical fruits; that which goes out is flour,
canned goods, hog products and cotton.

Now, as the Pacific coast country, measuring it clear back
to the Rockies, contains only two millions of people, scat-

22 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

tered over seven hundred thousand square miles, it is clear
enough that but a small fraction of this commerce is local.
The curios are sold in Chicago and the East; the silks go on
to New York and are scattered all over the country; and, on
the other hand, the hog products come from Kansas City
and Omaha; the flour, much of it, comes from Minnesota,
and the cotton from Texas. The Pacific coast is, therefore,
merely the gateway by which the commercial interests of
the Middle and Eastern States pass over to the Orient.

Commerce, like most other natural forces, will follow the
line of least resistance, and there enter, as material factors
in the railway end of the calculation, questions of distance,
grade, snow, and, sometimes, most important of all, oppor-
tunity for competition. When the cotton of Texas, grown in
latitude 30 deg., is carried north to latitude 47 deg. — a mat-
ter of 2000 miles as the railroad runs — subsequently to be
delivered iat Hong-Kong, latitude 23 deg., it is a paradox
that must some day be abolished. By all the laws of logic
and good business sense, cotton should seek its outlet to the
Pacific at the nearest practicable point. Moreover, the heavy
and costly freight which comes to this country from the
Orient should not be sent across the continent over steep
grades and through snow blockades, if level and clear routes
are to be had.

The city of Los Angeles, which, being within a few miles
of the coast, we may regard as a Pacific terminus, marks the
western end of the shortest route over the most practical
gradients between the Atlantic and Pacific waters. It is
north from San Diego over 100 miles, south from San Fran-
cisco 500 miles. In all that distance of over 600 miles,
there is no harbor where deep-sea vessels may enter, either
to seek refuge from a storm or deliver a cargo. A corre-
sponding distance on the Atlantic coast would be from Port-
land, Maine, to Cape May, or from Dover to Charleston.
Three railway routes lead out from Los Angeles across the
continent: The Southern Pacific and Central and Union
Pacific roads together constitute one line; the Southern Pa-
cific, and Texas and Missouri Pacific another; and the Santa
Fe system, a direct through line practically under one own-
ership into Chicago, is the third. The latter road was built
in competition with the other two, and for a number of years

24 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST. -

rivalry was active, contributing in a marked degree to the
progress of the adjacent country.*

Thus the enterprise of the railway builder was united with
the favoring influence of nature, to mark this as the proper
location for a harbor for the southwestern coast of the
Union-7-not in opposition to any other ports now existing
on the Pacific coast, but in addition to and supplementing
them. There will be work enough developed for all within
the next ten years, and each will serve its own territory.

Although the Pacific ocean is not as restless as the At-
lantic, there was ample justification for the building of a
harbor at some point near Los Angeles for the refuge of
storm-beleagured vessels. On this topic Senator Frye of
Maine, who has for many years served as Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Commerce, said: "It [the proposed
harbor in the vicinity of Los Angeles] is for the commerce
of the world, and not only is it for the commerce of the
world, but it is for. a harbor of refuge, just as important as
a harbor for commerce. The Atlantic coast has harbors of
refuge all along. We are building one now at Sandy Bay,
on the New England coast at a cost of $5,000,000, and we
have them every forty or fifty miles : harbors to which
tempest-tossed ships can run for refuge. They are just as
important for protection to life and property as are protected
harbors for commerce."

It would seem that if the Government could afford to
build harbors of refuge every fifty miles along the Atlantic
coast, some of them at a cost as great as $5,000,000, there
was ample warrant for the expenditure of the $2,900,000
which was finally appropriated for San Pedro, to construct
one harbor in a stretch of over 600 miles; and of this sum
less than half, it appears, is called for by the actual con-
tracted work.

However, it was not for a harbor of refuge nor for one of
naval necessity that Los Angeles ten years ago first presented
its claims for the construction of a great sea-wall at San
Pedro. It was in order that the work begun by nature might

* To these routes may be added a third, projected to run from Salt I^ake
City to Los Angeles, shorter and more direct than any of the others
and over easy grades through a productive country. It is now but a
question of a short time when this road will be constructed.

A NATIONAL ISSUE. 25

be completed in the making of a port for the commerce of
the Orient, a large portion of which should by the operation
of the inevitable laws of trade gravitate to this region. It
was that the cotton of the South and the hams and bacon of
Kansas and the fabrics and machinery of the East might
find their way, by easy grades and cheap transportation, to
the Pacific, where they would join with the wheat and flour
and fruit and canned goods of California, and embark for
shipment across to the countries of the Orient; and that in
return should come the silks and tea and rice and the handi-
work of the East to be distributed over the same route back
into the center of the nation. Many times in the struggle
was the question to be met : "What need has Los Angeles
for this harbor ?" to which the answer was always given :
"It is the United States that needs it."

CHAPTER III.
The Ancient Port of San Pedro.

IT was in 1542, thirty-six years after the death of the dis-
coverer of the Americas, that Cabrillo, a Spanish naviga-
tor, sailing under the flag of the great Emperor, Charles V,
entered the bay of San Pedro; and the Indians who inhab-
ited the islands and the adjoining mainland, in great numbers
and in appalling wretchedness, gazed, for the first time, on
Caucasian faces. It was, perhaps, in honor of the arrival of
these godlike beings, with their bird-winged conveyance,
that the savages set fire to the dry grass of the plains along
the shore; and the great clouds of smoke which overhung
the land caused Cabrillo to give the place the name of Bahia
de los Humos — the Bay of Smokes.

Historically, therefore, San Pedro is entitled to take prece-
dence over any port on the Atlantic coast. At the time of its
discovery, Henry VIII of England was busy intriguing for a
new wife, Germany was in the midst of the fierce religious
wars that grew out of the Reformation, the massacre of St.
Bartholomew had not yet taken place in France, De Soto
was just making his way up into the Mississippi, and the
father of William Shakespeare was courting Mary Arden. It

26 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

was not until sixty-seven years later that Henry Hudson as-
cended the river that bears his name, in the search for a
northwest passage, and gave the title of New Amsterdam to
the future site of the great metropolis; and when the first
English settlement was effected on American soil, San Pedro
had been on the navigator's map over half a century. The
name San Pedro was bestowed in honor of St. Peter, Bishop
of Alexandria, on whose day, November 28th, Viscaino, who
succeeded Cabrillo in the exploration of this coast, first en-
tered the harbor, in 1603. That is the name which is applied
to the exterior roadstead or bay; the interior bay or lagoon
is officially known as Wilmington. There is a town of San
Pedro, which is situated on and about the bluffs behind Point
Fermin,* and there is also a town of Wilmington, which is
two miles farther to the north and east, at the head of the
lagoon. Both of these towns, however, are matters of the
last half century.

Up to the time of the founding of the chain of missions in
California by the Franciscan fathers, which occurred in the
period from 1769 to 1800, the harbor or roadstead of San
Pedro was entered only at rare intervals by craft of any
description. When the mission of San Gabriel was estab-
lished thirty miles to the north, and the pueblo of Los An-
geles was founded, which events took place about. 1780, the
first real commerce of San Pedro began. Before twenty
years had passed, the mission was enjoying a high degree of
prosperity, and the pueblo had grown to be the largest set-
tlement on the Pacific coast. Tens of thousands of cattle
roamed through the San Gabriel and San Fernando Val-
leys, herded by Indians under the guardianship of the Mis-
sion padres, and the hides and tallow of these cattle formed
the staple export of the country, in return for which the
Yankee trading vessels that frequented the coast brought
cloth and sugar and household goods of every kind.

* There are three recognized spellings for Point Fermin. The Board
of 1890 calls it "Firmen." The local mapmakers generally put it
"Fermin." The Walker Board spells it " Firmin" in the text of the
report or " Fermin" on the maps. The army authorities generally call
it "Fermin", and so docs the Coast Survey. Mariner's Charts gener-
ally print it "Firmen." About the only way successfully to misspell
it is " Fermen," an achievement that is witnessed occasionally in the
newspapers.

RICHARD H. DANA'S VISIT. 27

In 1835, when the Mission regime was at its best, Richard
H. Dana visited this coast, in the capacity of a common
sailor, on board the brig Pilgrim. He spent two years cruis-
ing up and down among the harbors of California, and his
impressions are graphically set forth in his "Two Years Be-
fore the Mast", which is a true book of the sea, and a literary
masterpiece as well. He gives an entertaining description of
the roadstead of San Pedro and of the way in which com-
merce was carried on through California ports at that time,
over sixty years ago :

"Leaving Santa Barbara, we coasted along down, the
I country appearing level or moderately uneven, and for the
[ most part, sandy and treeless ; until, doubling a high sandy
j point, we let go anchor at a distance of three and a half
[ miles from shore. It was like a vessel bound for St. John's,
' Newfoundland, coming to anchor on the Grand Banks ; for
• the shore, being low, appeared to be at a greater distance
) than it actually was, and we thought we might as well have
) stayed at Santa Barbara, and sent down our boat for the
1 hides.

"The land was of a clayey quality, and as far as the eye
I could reach, entirely bare of trees and even shrubs; there
[ was no sign of a town — not even a house to be seen. What
j brought us into such a place, we could not conceive.

"No sooner had we come to anchor, than the slip-rope,

} and the other preparations for southeasters, were got ready ;

and there was reason enough for it, for we lay exposed to

every wind that could blow, except the northerly winds, and

I they came over a flat country with a rake of more than a

I league of water.

"The boat was lowered, and as we drew in, we found the
)tide low, and the rocks and stones covered with kelp and
] seaweed, lying bare for the distance of nearly half a mile.
I Leaving the boat, and picking our way barefooted over
I these, we came to what is called the landing place, at high-
j water mark. The soil was, as it appeared at first, loose and
I clayey, and except the stalks of the mustard plant, there was
I no vegetation. Just in front of the landing, and imme-
I diately over it, was a small hill, which, from its being not
I more than forty or fifty feet high, we had not perceived
I from our anchorage.

"Over this hill we saw three men coming down, dressed
! partly like sailors and partly like Californians. When they
] reached us, we found that they were Englishmen. They told

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32 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

channel about two miles long and lOO feet wide and from 6
to lo feet deep at mean low tide, sufficient for the accom-
modation of lighters, barges, tugs and small coast vessels. At
the mouth of the estuary, and cutting it off from the outei
bay, there was a bar where the water measured only i8
inches at low tide. The use of the inner area was, therefore
limited to such boats as could get over -the bar at high tide.
The tides in this port vary between 4^ and 7 feet.

This estuary was formed by the mainland on the west
side, and by the long low strip of sand-dunes formerly known
as Rattlesnake Island, and now called Terminal Island, on
the east. Between the latter and Deadman's Island lay about
3000 feet of flats, partly submerged even at low water. In
the map which accompanies this narration, these flats do not
appear; for it was alpng the line where they formerly lay
that the jetty was built by the government : the work which
was begun in the year 1871. Extensive flats also surrounded
the estuary to the east and west in the vicinity of the town of
Wilmington. The total area covered by the sea at high tide
inside the bar was about 1500 acres.

The roadstead lying without the bar was protected on the
west by the headland of Point Fermin and on the
south and southwest, to some extent, by the island of Cata-
lina, twenty miles away. To the east and north lay the mainr
land. There was no protection whatever from storms com-
ing from the southeast; and it is in that quarter that the
storms of winter originate on this portion of the Pacific
coast. During the greater part of the year, however, the road-
stead afforded good anchorage and fair protection to vessels,
and even prior to the improvement of the estuary, a very
considerable volume of coast commerce was carried on
through the port of San Pedro. By 1869 this business had
grown so considerable as to justify the building of a rail-
way line between San Pedro and Los Angeles, which was
the first piece of railroad constructed in Southern California.
This line, 23 miles in length, was subsequently acquired by
the Southern Pacific, when that corporation entered this ter-
ritory in 1876, and is today a branch of the latter system.

In addition to the official report made by Williamson as above noted
an official examination and report was made by Gen. Barton S. Alex-
ander a year later, and concurrent resolutions passed the I^egislature
asking for an appropriation based on Alexander's Report.

CHAPTER IV.
Work on the Interior Harbor.

ESTUARIES, similar to that of San Pedro or Wilming-
ton, are to be found all over the world; and their im-
provement into harbors of greater or less efficiency con-
forms to a well established and thoroughly understood law.
The rising and falling of the tide, which occurs twice in
every twenty-four hours, carries a great volume of water in
and out of the mouth of the estuary, and this, if properly con-
fined, and directed, may be used to scour out a channel for
the entrance of ships.

The conditions presented by the estuary which we are
considering, were unusually favorable. The tidal area, that
is to say, the extent of the land covered by water at mean
high tide, was very large in proportion to the width of
the channel at the mouth, provided the channel was confined
to its proper limits and the leaks — so to speak — stopped up.
The tide water, which amounted on the average to about
250,000,000 cubic feet, passed in and out over the flats that
lay between Deadman's Island and Rattlesnake Island on the
one side, and along the mainland at Point Fermin on the
other side. The current was slow and without force, and
the sand at the bottom of the channel and on the bar was
disturbed but little. But if confined and made to work ifi a
narrow channel, this great volume of water would exert a
dredging power of splendid proportions, and the sand once
thrown out beyond the bar into the ocean, it would be picked
up by the side currents and carried away from the mouth of
the harbor. The problem presented at San Pedro was not
complicated — as the case has frequently been elsewhere — ^by
the presence of a river of fresh water flowing into the estuary
and carrying down a great quantity of silt and sediment to
clog up the harbor. Doubtless in some earlier geological
period, when rains fell in great volume in California, instead
of sparsely as at present, the Wilmington lagoon was the
outlet for a great river, probably the San Gabriel, and in that
way the estuary first formed. At present the San Gabriel

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THE FIRST APPROPRIATION.

35

has its principal outlet about ten miles to the southward of
San Pedro; but at the time the harbor was constructed the
river discharged the main portion of its waters into the
Wilmington estuary, though it was only after seasons of un-
usual rainfall, and then only for a period of a few weeks,
that this discharge materially affected the regular volume
of the tidal prism that daily found its way down to the sea.
The first appropriation for the improvement of the inner
harbor passed March 2, 1871. The amount was $200,000

COL. S. O. HOUGHTON.

on a project that called for a total expenditure of $530,000,
and that contemplated a depth of ten feet of water at mean
low tide.

Los Angeles at that time was a city of about 8,000 popula-
tion, not more than twenty per cent of whom were Ameri-
cans. It had no railway connection with the East; and it
was not until five years later that the Southern Pacific came
over the Tehachapi Pass into the Southern valleys. The
surrounding country was but little improved, the land being

36 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

used chiefly for grazing. The status of Southern California
is very [dainly shown in the name, which was then generally
applied to it, of the "cow counties." .\11 the southern and
central sections of the State were included in one congres-
sional district, whose representative at that time was CoL
S. O. Houghton, of San Jose. Col. Houghton is now a resi-
dent of Los Angeles and a prominent member of the bar
of that city. Through him the first appropriation for San
Pedro was secured.*

Agitation in favor of the improvement of the Wilmington
lagoon, to accomplish such a deepening of the main channel
as wotdd admit coasting vessels of light draft, had been
under way for some time. The prospect of securing connec-
tion by railway with the Eastern states was then considered
ven,- distant. Only one transcontinental line, the Union and
Central Pacific, existed, as against the seven that now cross
the country. That one had been constructed under such tre-
mendous difficulties, and was operated at such expense, as to
render a second project, especially one over the lower and
desolate southern route, extremely dubious. The necessity
for a water connection between Los Angeles and the outer
world was therefore most urgent; the development of the
section seemed to depend absolutely upon it.

The number of far-sighted enterprising men in Los An-
geles at that time must have been very small, however, for
the project to improve San Pedro excited but languid inter-
est, and was openly opposed in some quarters. Col. G. H.
Mendell, who was in charge of the work from the beginning,
is authority for the statement that many of the old settlers
regarded the undertaking with contempt, and "figured" that
the government must have a great deal of money to waste, if
it could spend so many thousands of dollars on a useless
mud hole like the \\'ilmington lagoon.

The first authoritative report on the possibilities of the
inner harbor was made in 1869, by Major R. S. Williamson,
of the U. S. Corps of Engineers, who, in response to an

* Col. Houghton was one of the eadjest advocates, if not the earliest
of deep-water development in the outside harbor, and in the last yea^
of his term procured the passage of a recommendation to Uie U S.
Engineering Department that a survey be made of the roadstead as to
its posribilities.

THE WORK BEGINS.

37

urgent petition from Pheneas Banning, Don Benito Wilson
and others, made a careful examination and survey of the
estuary and submitted plans and a project for its improve-
ment the following year. Representative Houghton,
who had visited San Pedro the previous year, and had at
that time proposed to the active citizens of Los Angeles the
possibility of securing government aid for the undertaking.

^

COL. GEORGE H. MENDELL.
Corps of Engineers U. S. A. (Retired.)

went before the River and Harbor committee in the ses-
sion of 1 870- 1, and obtained an appropriation of $200,000
to begin the work.

The first project which called, as has been said, for a total
expenditure of $430,000, contemplated the removal of the
shoal at the entrance of the channel and the straightening
and deepening of the latter. This was to be accomplished
by the extension of Rattlesnake Island to Deadman's Island
by filling the intervening distance, 6700 feet, with rock and
timbers, in which, it was expected, the sand would lodge,
making a solid, impenetrable wall. By this process the great
volume of tide water that had heretofore escaped over the

38 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

flats would be restrained in the channel, and, flowing cut in
a swift current, would scour away the bottom to the desired
depth. Some dredging and blasting of the channel was also
contemplated as part of the work.

Some difficulties were encountered, but the results realized
were all and even more than had been predicted. June i,
1872, Congress made a second appropriation, this time of
$75,000 and again about a year later of $150,000, thus mak-
ing a total of $425,000, which was about all that had been
asked. Col. Mendell then proceeded to devise a new project
for the further continuance of the work. This called for the
building up of the east jetty to a higher level and its exten-
sion beyond Deadman's Island for about 400 feet, and for
the building up and further construction of the jetty on the
west side of the channel to a length of -bout 3500 feet,
which would cut off the flats on that side, and quicken the
tidal current as it passed over the bar.

The appropriations under this second project came slowly
and the work dragged, with a great sacriflce of economy and
a postponement of the desired results. The amounts and
dates were as follows : 1875, $30,000, 1878, $20,000, 1879,
$12,000, 1880, $35,000, 1881, $33>ooo. 1882, $100,000,
1884, $50,000, 1886, $75,000, 1888, $90,000, 1890, $34,000,
1892, $50,000. Had the latter portion of the work been
pushed with the same activity as the former, the government
would have been the gainer in many thousands of dollars,
and the people of this section would have enjoyed the use
of the inner harbor at a much earlier date.

The results finally attained through these expenditures ex-
ceeded the best that had been expected. The various boards
of expert engineering authorities, which have considered the
case of San Pedro on numerous occasions since this work
came to an end, have all, without exception, commented with
surprise on the admirable results attained through Col. Men-
dell's project.

An excellent description of the inner harbor work, and the
changed conditions at the port on its completion, is to be
found in an address delivered in 1891 before the Chamber of
Commerce of Los Angeles, by Captain James J. Meyler, the
supervising engineer. From that the following is quoted :

AN AVAILABLE HARBOR.

39

"The channel' has deepened, widened and straightened.
I Where we had depths from 6 to lo feet in 1 871, we have now
I from 16 to 22 feet, and the depth of 18 inches on the bar
I has increased to at least 14 feet. There are at present lying
I along side the wharves in the inner harbor two four-masted
I schooners and a barkentine, which had draughts, when
[crossing the inner bar, of 17 feet 8 inches, 18 feet 6 inches,
[and 18 feet 3 inches, respectively. Up to the present time
[about 133,000 tons of stone have been placed in the break-
I waters, and there have been excavated only about 177,000
I cubic yards of material, about 58,000 cubic yards of which
' was stone from a ledge of rock crossing the channel at the

CAPT. JAMES J. MEYLER,
Corps of Engineers U. S, A.

I inner bar. From a rough calculation, however, I estimate
! that at least 2,000,000 cubic yards of material have been re-
I moved from the channel, over nine-tenths of which has
I been done independently of dredging or blasting, the result
! of construction alone — the channel scouring itself under the
[ action of natural causes. The improvements have rendered it
possible for the usual trading vessels of the coast to enter
J at this point a safe inclosed anchorage, free of all exposure
> to storms, and to deliver freight without the use of lighters.

40 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

IThe total number of tons of exports and imports has in-
: creased tenfold since 1871; the collections of the port of
! Wilmington since 1882 have almost paid for the government
1 construction and work in the harbor, and the present rates
lof so cents per 1,000 feet of lumber and 75 cents per ton of
(merchandise were $7.50 and $5.00 respectively in 1871."

In the years 1886, 1887, 1888 there occurred in Southern
California a sudden growth in population, which led to a
number of interesting industrial changes, the whole phe-
nomenon receiving, by general consent, the name of "The
Boom." So important was the part played in the history of
Los Angeles by this event, that the people have adopted it as
a sort of a chronological datum plane; and everything is
dated before or after "the Boom," just as in Chicago it is
before and after "the Fire," or, in the South, "the War."
When a sleepy village of 15,000 people is transformed in the
brief space of about 20 months into a progressive city of
over 50,000, and a sparsely settled district that contains but
70,000 people suddenly acquires over 200,000 population,
extraordinary changes in real estate values, in commerce,
and in the industries and habits of the people naturally
ensue.

There is an impression in some quarters, particularly
among persons who have paid a hasty visit to the coast, that
this sudden inflation of values and rapid multiplying of in-
terests in Southern California worked a lasting injury to the
section. That is an error. On the contrary the real birth of
the country into commercial and social importance dates
from the epoch of "the boom." There were before that time,
as we have already noted, progressive and active men in
Southern California, and they made their influence felt to
some extent; but they were too few in number to dominate
the tone and sentiment of the community. The industries of
the section were limited and feeble, the improvements insig-
nificant, and the outlook not promising. But with the com-
pletion of a second transcontinental competing line into Los
Angeles and San Diego, a vast tide of new immigration
swept into Southern California from the thrifty middle
Western States, and the whole aspect of the country
changed.

It was in that period of sudden expansion when the people

THE DEEP-WATER HARBOR IDEA. 41

began to understand the splendid possibilities of a region
where an almost perfect climate combines with a fertile soil
within the limits of a free and enlightened nation — a combi-
nation to be found nowhere else in the world — that the idea
of a deep-sea harbor of the first rank and magnitude came to
be a practical issue in Los Angeles. Before that time it had
been suggested, but only as a vague and distant futurity,
like the building of the Nicaragua Canal or the redemption
of the Mojave Desert. Col. Mendell says that he remembers
discussing the subject in 1881 with Senator Stanford, who
was the president of the Central and Southern Pacific rail-
roads. The interview as related by Col. Mendell, in ar
article in the Los Angeles Times, contains much that is
significant in its bearing on the present commercial situation,
and it is entertaining, moreover, on account of the change in
the attitude of the Southern Pacific after Mr. Huntington
succeeded Senator Stanford in its management. The article
reads as follows:

The Southern Pacific railroad had then been recently
I finished, and its president expected that by reason of its light
'grades it must become the route of an immense commerce
'to be developed on the Asiatic shore. He [Gov. Stanford]
I expressed his intention to build steamers of capacity to carry
15,000 to 20,000 tons each. He stated that the commerce
') with China was in its infancy, and, considering its enormous
I population, he expected exchanges to take dimensions not
I then anticipated by any one. There were obvious and
I serious objections to San Francisco as the port for com-
Imerce to be handled over the Southern Pacific railroad, in
I that freight would have to be transported over nearly five
I hundred miles of railroad and pass three summits in order to
I reach Los Angeles. It was plain that these ships must
'receive and discharge their cargoes upon the adjacent coast,
I and his first inquiry was whether or not Wilmington harbor
> could be made to accommodate vessels of the proposed mag-
>nitude. The reply was that it was quite impracticable to
I make the estuary suitable for so large vessels. His next in-
I quiry was as to an alternative harbor. San Diego had no
! railroad connection and could not be considered. He was
I informed that it would be quite practicable to build a
I breakwater in the bay of San Pedro, under the lee of which
'vessels of any size might lie in security in touch with the
' railroad and there receive and discharge cargoes. At a later

42 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

(date he was given a map, which, in a general way, iUus-

\ trated the project of an outer harbor.

That the idea of asking the government to undertake the
construction of a deep-sea harbor for trans-Pacific commerce
was not general until the lessons of "the boom" were learned,
appears from a memorial to Congress isued by the Los An-
geles Board of Trade in February of 1888, in which a modest
request is put forth in behalf of an appropriation of $200,ooc
to complete the work on the interior harbor, with no men-
tion of the deep-sea improvement. In this document there
is reproduced, however, a letter from W. H. H. Benyaurd,
Major (now Lieut. -Colonel) of Engineers U. S. Army,
under date of Nov. 29, 1887, in which he states that a sur-
vey has just been completed "looking to the formation of
an outer harbor at San Pedro Bay, for the protection of
deep-draft vessels."

Although the work on the interior harbor was not com-
pleted at the time of "the boom", the effect on the shipping at
that port may be seen from the figures of the duties col-
lected before and during these eventful years :

YKAR DUTIES TONNAGB

1883 $ 38,911.87 |7988.70

1884 52,029.95 3290.48

1885 39,428.69 2100.27

1886 63,960.46 3922.47

1887 105,627.62 4598.49

1888 159,111.23 6235.56

In 1887, 889 vessels entered the port, of which 69 were
from foreign countries, the remainder coasting craft. In
1888 the number ran to 1092, of which 105 were foreign.
These were the palmy days of San Pedro, the time when its
people thought, "full surely its greatness was a-ripening."
In a year or two more, the two roadsteads to the north, Re-
dondo and Santa Monica, were to be developed, and the
coast business to be wrested away, and — ^bitterest of all — the
railroad, which thus far had proved San Pedro's most pow-
erful ally, was destined to transfer its allegiance to another
quarter, and the ancient embarcadero was to pass for nearly
a decade through a period of extreme tribulation. But the
thought had been uttered that there should some day be a

A KEW AI.IvY FOR THE HARBOR. 43

deep-sea harbor near Los Angeles for the trans-Pacific com-
merce of that city, the southwest, and all the Union. The
seed was planted that was destined to grow and to bear splen-
did fruit.

CHAPTER V.
Enter the Chamber of Commerce.

IN the fall of 1888 an organization was formed in the city
of Los Angeles which was to play an important part in
the harbor contest — indeed it must be admitted that without
this organization the victory could never have been won.

Most western cities have societies for local improvement
which usually bear the name Board of Trade or Chamber of
Commerce. Los Angeles had possessed various organiza-
tions of this character, which had sprung up from time to
time, flourished for a short period, and then passed away. In
the later Bo's the Board of Trade, which had given some at-
tention to public questions, decided to devote its strength to
the special business interests of its members, and this left the
city with no agency to look out for the general good.

On the suggestion of W. E. Hughes, Major E. W. Jones
and S. B. Lewis a public meeting was held on October 11,
1888, when a plan was formulated for a Chamber of Com-
merce, an organization with a membership that should in-
clude not business men alone, but property owners and pro-
fessional men as well— in short every one who was inter-
ested in the prosperity of Los Angeles and Southern Cali-
fornia.

About 150 members were enrolled, each of whom paid an
initiation fee of $5.00, and thereafter dues of $1.00 a
month. On this small financial basis an institution began
which has brought many millions of dollars into the country,
and which has itself spent hundreds of thousands of dollars
in advertising the section and assisting in its development.
When the Chamber had been in existence four years it had
a membership of over 500, from which it derived an income
sufficient to maintain it in satisfactory style, while the
money that was needed for active work was secured by sub-
scription.

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WORK OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 45

In its third year the Chamber established the free exhibit
of Southern California products, which comes very near
to being the finest and largest display of that character to be
found anywhere in the world. The only two that exper-
ienced travelers mention to compare with it are the Bourse
Exhibit of Philadelphia and the. Colonial Products display
in London.

The present membership of the Chamber is over i,ooo,
and includes practically all the active business men, public-
spirited property owners, and successful professional men in
the city. It has also a considerable membership of notable
men all over Southern California, and the various counties
of the section participate in the display of products. The
latter, which occupies the second and third stories of a build-
ing 1 20 feet square, is visited by nearly 100,000 people an-
nually, hailing from every country on the globe.

In the eleven years that have elapsed since it came into
existence, the Chamber has had entire charge of nearly all
the notable public enterprises inaugurated in Los Angeles.
It has sent exhibits in great quantities to fairs, and special
displays all over the world, and its printed matter has gone
forth by the carload. Los Angeles is certainly one of the best
advertised cities in the Union, and it owes the splendid re-
sults that have followed, in the form of a desirable immigra-
tion and the influx of new capital, to the wisdom and energy
of its leading commercial organization. At the time of the
active harbor agitation, the Merchants and Manufacturers'
Association, which has since achieved distinction for gooa
public work, did not exist; the Chamber of Commerce stood
alone, and represented as nothing else could, the active, pro-
gressive sentiment of the country. Great care had been
used by the intelligent and conscientious men who made up
its directorate — men who were for the most part re-elected
year after year — to preserve the institution from any scandal
of self-seeking or of personal ambition. As a consequence, it
exercised an ascendency over public opinion, which, in a
crisis, such as the city was about to meet, would prove of in-
estimable value.

It is necessary to speak thus in detail of the Chamber of
Commerce, in order that the reader who is perhaps not a
resident of Southern California, or who is a newcomer to

46 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

this section, may appreciate its power and influence — so
much beyond that which the mere name might suggest.

The first object of this organization, as set forth in its by-
laws, is to foster the commerce of Los Angeles and South-
ern California; and, as a deep-water harbor was a primary
necessity to the attainment of any foreign trade, to work for
San Pedro — and up to 1892 no other location' than San
Pedro was seriously considered — became a fundamental
article in the Chamber of Commerce creed. It was gener-
ally admitted, even by the most ardent harbor enthusiasts,
that there was little hope of early results from that work. In
the first place, the interior harbor was still unfinished, and
the government was not likely to consider a new project,
until' it had completed the one in hand. Appropriations
were coming slowly, and in such small amounts that the im-
provements barely held their own against the influences of
nature. The amount which it was estimated would be re-
quired for the construction of the outer harbor was very
large, and it must of necessity be considered by Congress all
at once, under the continuing contract plan, as the work
could not be done successfully in piece-meal appropriations.
The totals of the river and harbor bills were increasing by
giant strides each year, and a general outcry against such
extravagance was heard all over the Union.

There had been up to this time no definite project devised
by the engineering authorities of the government, but a semi-
official suggestion had been offered that the construction of
a sea wall, a breakwater of stone, running out from a point
a little to the north of Point Fermin, about two miles in
length, would probably accomplish what was desired. It
was roughly estimated that this would cost between four
and five millions of dollars. The vagueness of the whole
calculation shows in the fact that when the work was actu-
ally let by contract, ten years later, the price agreed upon
was $1,300,000. The cost of such work, however, has con-
siderably diminished during that period.

In spite of this discouraging outlook the Chamber of Com-
merce went bravely to work to obtain, first of all, the appro-
priations that were needed to complete the inner harbor, and
second, to secure a small appropriation for the preparing of a
project on the deep-water plan.

THE COMING OF FRYE. 47

A favorite method employed by the Chamber to push the
harbor's interests was to seize upon any senator, or member
of the House, or upon any person of influence who might
be visiting the coast and convey him to San Pedro on a
special train, accompanied by a number of enthusiastic har-
bor advocates, who made clear to him by ocular demon-
stration, backed up by statistics and an abundance of argu-
ment, the entire feasibility of the deep-water idea. It hap-
pened that during 'SS-'Sp and '90 a number of congressional
committees visited the coast. Senator Leland Stanford,
who at that time was president of the Southern Pacific, al-
ways accompanied these parties, and was a hearty advocate
of the claims of San Pedro. The section's representative in
Congress, Gen. Vandever of Ventura, also assisted in the en-
tertainment of these guests.

A notable incident took place, just at that time, which had
no little bearing on the subsequent contest, in the visit paid
by Senator Frye of Maine to Los Angeles and San Pedro.
The Committee on Commerce of the Senate was making a
tour of the country, to inspect the various harbor projects on
which it was called to vote, and in October of 1889 came to
the Pacific coast. The Maine Senator was chairman of the
committee, and although not all its members were present,
those who accompanied him to. San Pedro were Dawes of
Massachusetts, Piatt of Connecticut, Davis of Minnesota,
Morgan of Alabama, and Turpie of Indiana. There was a
special train, containing about thirty members of the Cham-
ber and a few representative people from San Diego.

In the contest between the people and the Southern Pacific
railway over the location of the harbor. Senator Frye of
Maine was, from beginning to end, an unwavering and de-
termined opponent of San Pedro. His position as chairman
of the Committee on Commerce made it possible for him
to destroy, year after year, all chance of appropriation
for that harbor, and he openly and without hesitation made
use of that opportunity. Whenever the matter came up in
the committee, he invariably took an active part in the dis-
cussion, denouncing the San Pedro location, even in the face
of the engineers' repeated decisions, using all the arts of per-
suasion and cajolery (and those arts, with the chairman of
the committee that passes on appropriations for every State

48 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

in the Union, are most powerful), and even falling back on
the infallible "Senatorial courtesy" when every other method
failed for gaining delay. Alone and almost unaided, for a
number of years, he succeeded in defeating every effort to
get the question actually considered by Congress; and when
at last, chiefly through the efforts of Senator White of Los
Angeles, the issue was forced out of the committee into the
open Senate, it was Mr. Frye of Maine who led the fight in
behalf of the railroad's choice for a location, conferring fre-
quently in the lobby and committee rooms of the Senate with
Mr. Huntington and his body-guard of workers. There
were, it may be admitted, a number of supporters of the
Santa Monica site who approached the question in a judicial
spirit, and who believed with all sincerity that the Govern-
ment engineers were in error; but Mr. Frye, as his every ut-
terance on the harbor issue showed plainly enough, was a
partisan of the most persistent and uncompromising type.

There has been much speculation among the people of
Southern California, who were interested in the fate of the
harbor, as to the reason for Mr. Frye's extraordinary atti-
tude. Men who occupy positions of public trust sometimes
favor rich corporations with their votes, because they sin-
cerely believe in the justice of the cause; but the public serv-
ant that becomes their open and avowed advocate, and de-
votes his energies to their interests with the active zeal of a
faithful attorney, must expect to encounter some aspersions
on the propriety of his motives.

In Mr. Frye's behalf it is to be said that no man in high
public life has borne a more untarnished reputation for prob-
ity than he. His period of service in Congress extends
through nearly thirty years. With almost no elements of
personal popularity, with a brusque, ill-natured manner that
repels even his friends and admirers, it would be seemingly
impossible for him to maintain his hold on the Republicans
of Maine, were not unusual ability joined with high prin-
ciple to make him a leader. His position in Maine may be
compared to that of Hoar in Massachusetts, Cullom in Illi-
nois, Allison in Iowa, or Hawley in Connecticut. Upright
men are sometimes capable of very downright prejudices,
and it is not necessary to attribute corrupt motives to Mr.
Frye, as many Californians are disposed to do, to account

SENATOR FRYE'S ATTITUDE. 49

for his determined advocacy of the railroad's interest. Once
convinced, on the argument of the Southern Pacific engin-
eers, that the Santa Monica site was the preferable one, Mr.
Frye thenceforth would have regarded himself as a dema-
gogue if he had listened for one moment to the demands of
the people of Los Angeles that their harbor should be open
to competition. We can readily understand his mental atti-
tude, for it is one that is frequently assumed by Eastern peo-

SENATOR WM. B. FRYE of Maine.

pie who know California but distantly. All opposition to the
railway, no matter what the merits of the particular case may
be, is classed as agrarianism — any defense of the people's
rights was demagogy, to Senator Frye. The demand for a
"free harbor at San Pedro" reeked of Denis Kearney and the
Sand Lots! And this one piece of prejudice working its

50 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

way into a mind that was prompted both by experience and
environment to accept it, operated as the elder Hamlet de-
scribes the poison :

" Swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigor it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk.
The thin and wholesome blood."

As to the first inception of this prejudice against Los An-
geles and its harbor of San Pedro, it is not impossible that
the incidents connected with his first visit to those localities
may have a bearing upon it.

The party, which we have described, left the cars at the
end of the Southern Pacific line, which then ran out to a
spot beyond Timm's Point, where the company was engaged
in building a new wharf of considerable length.

Dr. J. P. Widney, who was chairman of the committee of
the Chamber of Commerce that had charge of the harbor
work, and who had made a special study of the subject, un-
rolled a chart showing the proposed improvement, and
started in to explain the plan, but Mr. Frye interrupted.

"Why, where are all the ships?" he said. "I was given
to understand that there was something of a harbor here,
and that a great deal of traffic was carried on, though under
unfavorable conditions."

Major E. W. Jones, the president of the Chamber, replied
that the best answer to the Senator's question would be
found in the statistics of the port, which showed that it was
entered by over looo vessels the preceding year, in spite of
the neglect which it had sufifered from the government, and
the present unfavorable conditions for commerce.

Senator Frye then inspected the map. "Rattlesnake
Island," he read aloud. "Deadman's Island. I should
think it would scare a mariner to death to come into such a
place."

"If that is all the dififiiculty," said Senator Stanford, evi-
dently a little annoyed at the tone that Frye had adopted
toward the party, "you let us have a large enough appropria-
tion, and we will change the names to something less hor-
rifying."

SOME JOCULAR RKMARKS. 51

"Well, as near as I can make out," continued Mr. Frye,
looking up from the map, "you propose to ask the govern-
ment to create a harbor for you, almost out of whole cloth.
The Lord has not given you much to start with, that is cer-
tain. It will cost four or five millions to build, you say; well,
is your whole country worth that much?"

At this most unexpected utterance the Los Angeles dele-
gation gazed at one another in astonishment and disgust,
and they were relieved and gratified when Senator Stanford
came to their aid, with a few words of description of the
country, its existing resources and its splendid possibilities

.MAJOR E. W. JONES.

under development. He also spoke of the opportunity which
the favorable grades at this locality presented for trans-Pa-
cific commerce.

"Well," said Mr. Frye, obstinately, in conclusion, "it
seems that you have made a big mistake in the location of
your city. You should have put it at some point where a har-
bor already exists, instead of calling upon the United States
Government to give you what nature has refused."

"If we were to carry out that idea," said Senator Stan-

52 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

ford, "we should have no cities on this coast for a space of
600 miles."

The party then returned to the city. The next day, when
the Senator's remarks were published both in Los Angeles
and San Diego, and considerable indignation was expressed
among the citizens of the former city, he gave an interview
to an evening paper, in which he said that his observation*
were intended to be of a jocular order, and should not be
taken too seriously.*

Now, if Mr. Frye had remained an opponent of any appro-
priation for a harbor near Los Angeles, on the ground that
it was not needed, he would have at least shown the virtue
of consistency. A few years later, however, the extra-
ordinary fact developed that while the Maine Senator could
see no reason for spending any of the government money at
San Pedro, he was warmly in favor of making an improve-
ment at Santa Monica, in accordance with Mr. Huntington's
ideas, which would cost about three millions of dollars.

It is perhaps needless to say, in concluding this chapter,
that Mr. Frye does not enjoy a high degree of popularity
in Southern California. Doubtless that is a matter of small
moment to Mr. Frye; it is merely recorded here as a per-
tinent and perhaps an interesting piece of history.

* Senator Frye's own account of this incident given in his speech be-
fore the Senate May 11th, 1896, on the San Pedro-Santa Monica contro-
versy is as follows :

Whether I am a "navigator" or not, I made my mind very deliber-
ately then that a safe harbor at San Pedro was an impossibility, on
account of the southeast winds. I so told Senator Stanford. He argued
the question with me, and by that time there were a hundred or two
hundred people around listening, and I finally, in jest, said to the
Senator, " Senator, if those Los Angeles people want a harbor, suppose
they move their city down to San Diego There is a good harbor there."
You ought to have read the Los Angeles papers the next day. I never
got such a lecture in my life as I got from those newspapers, and some
of them have kept it up ever since.

CHAPTER VI.
The Government Considers the Outer Harbor.

IT was in the spring of 1890 that the first tangible result
of the agitation in favor of the deep-water harbor was
achieved. Through the efforts of Senator Stanford and
Representative Vandever, an item was inserted in the River
and Harbor appropriation bill, which passed in the summer
of 1890, allowing the sum of $5000 to pay the expense of
preparing a project for a deep-water harbor, somewhere in
the vicinity of Los Angeles. The location was not described,
except that it should be "between Points Dume and Capis-
trano." A Board of Engineers of the War Department was
appointed, consisting of Col. G. H. Mendell, Lieut.-Col. G. L.
Gillespie and Lieut.-Col. W. H. H. Benyaurd. Col. Mendell
was the author of the two projects for the improvement of
the inner harbor, which were then under way, and during a
great part of that work, Lieut.-Col. W. H. H. Benyaurd
was in charge. Both were therefore thoroughly familiar
with the conditions that prevailed on the coast, and com-
petent to render a decision as to the merits of the various
localities.

It was subsequently urged by the advocates of the Santa
Monica site against these gentlemen, that they were, in a
way, already committed to the San Pedro site, having se-
lected it twenty years before, as the proper place for gov-
ernment work, and that it would have been better, and
more conducive to an impartial judgment, had the Secre-
tary of War selected engineers from some distant section
of the Union. On the other hand, it should be remembered
that the question they were now called upon to consider was
that of an outer harbor, and that they might with entire con-
sistency have awarded that to some other spot than San
Pedro — for the outer and inner harbor bore no direct re-
lationship to one another, except that it would naturally be
advantageous to have them both in the same vicinity,
other things being equal.

The bill authorizing the appointment of this Board was

54 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

passed September 19, 1890, and the report was prepared
during the following summer. The Board held public
meetings in Santa Monica, San Pedro and Los Angeles,
although there was no great amount of publicity given to
the matter at the time. As every one supposed the location
selected would be San Pedro, there was not much discussion
and no excitement.

The report was submitted to Congress December 19th,
1 89 1. The text of the law under which the Board was ap-
pointed is as follows :

That the Secretary of War is authorized and directed to
[ appoint a board of three engineer officers of the United
I States army, whose duty it shall be to examine the Pacific
' Coast between Points Dume and Capistrano, with a view
>to determining the best location for a deep-water harbor.
>The said board shall report to the Secretary of War a project
I for a deep-water harbor, with the estimated cost of the same,
[ who shall lay said report before Congress at the next session,
I together with the views of the commission and of the Chief
)Of Engineers of the United States army thereon; and the
1 sum of five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be
1 necessary, is hereby appropriated for the purpose.

The report, after giving a brief description of the topog-
raphy of the region, disposes in a few words of all other
harbor possibilities than San Pedro and Santa Monica,
which latter are considered at some length. The follow-
ing interesting and correct account is given of the winds
of this coast :

The prevailing wind on the California coast is from the
[northwest, nearly parallel to the coast line north of Point
> Concepcion, which is in latitude 34deg.,27 min. At this point
[ the trend of the coast changes from northwest to west. This
I fact, in connection with the bold topography of the shore,
I causes the prevailing winds along the southerly coast of Cal-
I ifornia to be westerly. This wind never becomes more than
!a moderate gale. It never produces the heaviest waves.
I The disturbance of the water due to it is, however, always
1 an inconvenience to vessels lying at a wharf exposed to its
) action, and when the disturbance is greatest there is danger
1 to vessels. This wind prevails on the southern coast during
I the greater part of the year, with intermission of calms in the
! autumn and winter. In the last named season occur the

THE BOARD OF 1890. 55

I southerly offshore winds, which produce the heaviest waves
I to which the coast line is exposed.

A northeasterly land wind, known as the "Santa Ana,"
I occasionally blows from the dry, hot plains lying to the east-
[ ward. Its duration is short, and it is severe, but having no
I fetch over the sea it raises no waves near the shore.

The southeaster comes in the winter and spring, and
j brings rain. The storm first manifests itself by a wind from
'the southeast, which continues for a few hours, shifting
1 then to the south and southwest. The storm clears up when
I the wind gets to the northwest. In these storms a heavy
I sea is developed, which breaks upon the coast line in waves
I of great magnitude. These waves come from the south and
I southwest. The waves produced by the southeast wind are
i short, designated by the sailors as "choppy." The south and
southwest seas, on the other hand, are long and heavy. A
J vessel at anchor under this exposure must, under these cir-
J cumstances, get to sea with the possibility of otherwise going
I ashore. It is the heave of the sea rather than the wind,
I although the latter alone is sufficiently dangerous, that
I makes the strongest ground tackle, at times, of no avail.

Although southerly winds prevail during the winter sea-
1 sons, and bring rain, yet their occurrence in violent form
1 is not frequent, and a season has been known to pass without
! a severe storm. Nor is the duration of a storm rarely ex-
\ tended over two or three days.

In this respect the conditions of the southern coast of Cal-
I ifornia are much less severe than in higher latitudes. This
I consideration is of great importance, for the reason that
lowing to it a lighter profile may be adopted for a break-
) water than would be admissible much further north.

The structure proposed and considered for Santa Monica
was to be placed directly in front of the city, instead of at
Port Los Angeles, the location afterwards advocated by the
railroad company. A breakwater thus situated, 8250 feet in
length, would cover an anchorage ground, so the report
states, between Point Dume and Rocky Point. The west-
erly 2000 feet would be in water of y}i to 9 fathoms, the re-
mainder of the structure being 8 and 9 fathoms. It was es-
timated that this would cost, if built of rubble and concrete,
$5»7iS>965, or of rubble only, $4,843,440.

The plan considered for San Pedro was somewhat dif-

56 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

ferent from the one finally adopted, eight years later. The
report reads :

In San Pedro Bay the best location for the proposed har-
! bor is at the present anchorage ground on the west side of the
)bay under Point Fermin. The projection of the westerly
1 shore, by which protection is afforded from westerly winds,
! and from which a breakwater could start, affords advantages
[ over any other section of the bay to the eastward for secur-
I ing a protected anchorage.

Good holding ground exists at the anchorage. Protec-
\ tion from storms over the open arcs of exposure to the south-
' west and southeast could be secured by the construction of
a breakwater having two arms. Catalina affords protection
I from southwest seas as before stated, over an angle of forty-
I eight degrees. The westerly arm could be started from a
) point on the shore under Point Fermin, and be extended in a
I direction south 41 degrees east (magnetic), for a distance
1 of about 2,400 feet, which would carry it beyond a line pro-
[ jected from the middle of the present anchorage ground to
I the westerly end of Catalina Island. The end of this arm
I is in six fathoms depth. Then leaving a gap of 1,500 feet,
I the easterly arm could be given a direction north 56^^ de-
I grees east, along the 9^ fathom curve, and be extended
I about 5,600 feet, which would afford protection from the
I southeast seas. This arm could be extended easterly as
» increased commerce would require more interior space.

The estimated cost of this structure, if built of rubble and
concrete, was $4,594,494; if built entirely of concrete, the
cost was figured at $4,126,106.

The report then goes into a comparison of the two loca-
tions, showing the superiority of San Pedro on every point.
Its final summing up of the case reads as follows :

) In view of the fact that San Pedro Bay in its natural con-

l dition affords better protection both from prevailing winds
and from dangerous storms than Santa Monica Bay;

I That protection can be secured at less cost for equal de-
velopment of breakwater at the former than at the latter;

That a larger area of protected anchorage from the pre-
vailing westerly swells can be secured, the severe storms

?from the southwest being infrequent;

And that there is already an interior harbor that will be

J a valuable addition to the outer harbor;

A MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS.

57

The Board considers San Pedro Bay as the better location
for the deep-water harbor provided for by the act.

When this document was made pubHc, its immediate ef-
fect was to quiet whatever doubt may have existed as to the
exact spot where the deep-water harbor was to be con-
structed, and to give the advocates of that improvement
fresh strength and courage. The Chamber of Commerce pre-
pared a new memorial, asking that the work to be undertaken
forthwith, and sent a copy to every member of Congress.
This memorial bears the names of H. Z. Osborne, who was
then serving as Collector of the Port, Henry T. Hazard,
Mayor of Los Angeles, W. H. Workman, ex-mayor and

HENRY T. HAZARD.

an old-time harbor advocate, Hervey Lindley, who ran for
Congress the next year on the Republican ticket and was
defeated, and James Cuzner, of the lumber firm of Kerck-
hoff & Cuzner. Of these H. Z. Osborne and Hervey Lind-
ley afterward became active Santa Monica advocates.

In order to assist Mr. Bowers, who served as Representa-
tive, 1891-93, in securing an appropriation, the Chamber of
Commerce sent on a special delegate in the person of Gen-

58 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

eral Lionel A. Sheldon, a former Member of Congress from
Louisiana.* But the conditions were unfavorable, and
nothing could be accomplished.

In the meantime an important change had taken place in
the personnel of the management of the Southern Pacific
railroad. Senator Leland Stanford, who had acted as pres-
ident of the Central Pacific since its beginning, and who,
when that road was merged into the Southern Pacific, be-
came the president of the whole system, was suddenly and
unexpectedly deposed, and Mr. C. P. Huntington took his
place. The dramatic character of the proceedings at the
annual meeting, where the change occurred, produced a
great sensation all over the State.

For many years elections of officers and directors in the
Southern Pacific Company had been of a perfunctory and
commonplace character, and there was beforehand no out-
ward indication that the meeting of April 9th, 1890, would
differ in any wise from those that had immediately preceded
it. But when the vote of the stockholders was taken, it de-
veloped that the Hopkins interest, which had formerly been
in alliance with the Crocker and Stanford interests, had
changed over to Huntington, and that the latter was now
completely in control.

There had been for some time rumors of strained rela-
tions between Stanford and Huntington, due partly to a dis-
agreement with regard to the management of the road, and
partly to certain complications of a social character that
had arisen in the two families. The public was, however,
considerably astonished when C. P. Huntington, immedi-
ately upon his election to the presidency of the road, read to
the stockholders a typewritten address, which he afterwards
handed to the reporters, in which he deliberately insulted
and denounced Mr. Stanford. Incidents of that character
sometimes occur behind closed doors of corporation offices,
over the long green table in the directors' room, but it is a
little unusual to have them develop in the broad daylight of
newspaper publicity.

* By a curious coincidence it was General Sheldon who, as a member
of the House Committee dealing with River and Harbor appropriations
nearly twenty years before, had assisted Colonel Houghton in getting
the first appropriation for San Pedro.

MR. HUNTINGTON'S MANIFESTO.

59

"At all times," said Mr. Huntington, reading aloud from
his address, "my personal interest has been second to that
of the company; and in no case will I use this great corpor-
ation to advance my personal ambition at the expense of the
owners, or put my hands into its treasury to defeat the
people's choice, and thereby put myself in positions that
should be filled by others ; but to the best of my ability will
I work for the interest of the stockholders of this company
and the people whom it should serve."

No other construction could be put upon this utterance

LELAND STANFORD.

than that it pointed directly at Mr. Stanford, who, while
president of the company, was twice honored by election
to the Senatorship. The phrase "put myself in positions
that should be filled by others" was supposed to refer to ex-
Senator Sargent, who was dropped to make room for Stan-
ford. If there was need, however, that any one should be
"edified by the margent" as to Mr. Huntington's rneaning,
his own subsequent interviews in the San Francisco dailies,
which were full of bitterness against Mr. Stanford, made it
perfectly clear.

6o THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

The new president then proceeded to deliver some very
proper sentiments on the duty of corporations and their em-
ployees, which read somewhat strangely now at the end of
nine years of the administration of Mr. Huntington.

"The best results cannot be brought about unless every
officer of the company gives his best attention to the care
of the company's interests, which can be best done without
interfering in political affairs. The people are everywhere
jealous of great corporations. Let us conduct this com-
pany so that all good people will be with us. If this is not
done, your president will certainly be on the side of the
people. Corporations should not be used to advance the
interests of this party or that, or to raise up any one man or
to pull down another; and this corporation will not be so
used henceforth, if its president can prevent it."

This portion of the address was received with a good
deal of derision by the people of California, for it was Mr.
Huntington himself that had always managed the company's
political work in Washington and at Sacramento, and there
was extant a very interesting bundle of letters, written by
him to one of his fellow directors of the company, General
Colton, in which he had described in detail his dubious meth-
ods in the lobby, with the utmost sang froid.

However, the matter of Mr. Huntington's sincerity or his
fitness for the utterance of such sentiments is not part of the
present discussion. The point to be noted, as bearing on
the San Pedro issue, is that the new head of the road came
to his work imbued with the idea that his predecessor had
mismanaged the property. It was announced on all sides
that there was to be a "new deal," a "general shaking up" and
certain radical changes of. policy, and there certainly was
warrant for this assumption in the way Mr. Huntington ex-
pressed himself, as he went about inspecting the road. He
visited San Pedro and Santa Monica, and announced that
the company would soon make some important improve-
ments in the latter locality.

Presently the work which was in progress at San Pedro
on the w:harf near Timin's Point came to a halt. No public
statement of any kind was made on the subject until, five
years later, when the harbor discussion was at its livelieist,
Mr. Wm. Hood, the head of the engineering department of

THE LONG WHARF. 6i

the road, declared that the great difficulty which was ex-
perienced in driving the piles of the wharf on account of the
rocky bottom, had caused the abandonment of the undertak-
ing.

Within a few months after Mr. Huntington became
president of the Southern Pacific, work began on the con-
struction of the line from Santa Monica to Port Los An-
- les, and a year later that line was in operation and work
on the long wharf was well under way. In 1893 the wharf
was completed, and the Southern Pacific was committed
to the change of policy from a harbor at San Pedro to one at
Santa Monica. As the reasons for this change lie within
the cc ntroversial limits, they should be given in detail, both
from the railroad's point of view and from that of its oppo-
nents ; and a new chapter must be opened for their benefit.

t'

CHAPTER Vn.
The Southern Pacific's Change of Base.

THE first formal announcement of the decision of the rail-
road company to abandon San Pedro and take up Santa
Monica was made in February, 1892, in a telegram from
Wm. Hood, the chief engineer of the Southern Pacific, to
Senator Frye, which was presented to the Senate Committee
on Commerce. In this telegram Mr. Hood warned the
committee, which was at that time considering the advis-
ability of making an appropriation for San Pedro, in
accordance with the project of the Mendell Board, that
the holding ground at San Pedro was rocky and not
usable, and that the railroad company had encountered
such difficulty in driving piles for the construction of a
wharf in the outer harbor area that it had been compelled
to give up the work, and was now putting in a pier at Santa
Monica instead.

It is probable that the decision to go to Santa Monica was
reached by Mr. Huntington some time in 1891.

Santa Monica is a town of about 3000 population situ-
ated on the coast directly west of Los Angeles, and pos-
sessing superior advantages as a beach resort. It has been

THE SANTA MONICA RAILWAY. 63

for half a century or more the favorite summer watering
place for the people of Los Angeles and the interior towns,
and although at present it has active rivals in Long Beach,
Catalina, Terminal Island and Redondo, it still gathers by-
far the greater number of summer visitors.

In 1875 Senator John P. Jones of Nevada and several Los
Angeles capitalists, of whom J. S. Slauson was the chief,
undertook to make Santa Monica a commercial port.
They constructed a railroad from that place to the city, and
put out a wharf 1,800 feet in length for the accommoda-
tion of such traffic as could be secured, more particularly
for the use of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. The
charges exacted by the Southern Pacific on its line from
San Pedro to Los Angeles were regarded by the people of
Southern California as outrageously exorbitant — $2.50 for
carrying a passenger, and freight at five to ten times its
present figure. The Santa Monica railroad and wharf were
therefore hailed as a deliverance from a monopoly, and for
a short period there was active competition. At the end of
a year and a half, however, the Los Angeles investors found
that they were not receiving the support from the people to
which they considered they had a just title, and when the
opportunity occurred to part with the property to advantage
they embraced it, and the road and wharf passed into the
hands of the Southern Pacific. The general community was
permanently benefited to a considerable degree, as the old
rates were not restored, even though competition had
ceased.

Mr. J. S. Slauson was, through the whole of the subse-
quent harbor controversy, an ardent advocate of Santa Mon-
ica, basing his predeliction for that port on his ancient ex-
perience. He is now (1899) president of the Chamber of
Commerce of Los Angeles.

For a few years the Southern Pacific made use of the
wharf at Santa Monica, but in the later '70s they abandoned
it, and tore down the outer end of the structure, declaring
that it was unsafe even for foot passengers. Their reasons
for leaving Santa Monica at this time, as set forth by Mr.
Hood, in his testimony before the Craighill Board —
fifteen years later — were that vessels moored to the wharf,
even in comparatively good weather, suffered so from the

64 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

swell that the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, its prin-
cipal user, at last refused to guarantee to come to a landing
there. This evidence was given, it must be noted, after the
railway company had changed back again to Santa Monica
though to a somewhat different location — and hence,
doubtless, puts the case rather mildly.

In those days, as at present, a very large percentage —
nearly all, in fact — of the freight and passenger business
for Los Angeles came from the north, and it probably oc-
curred to the builders of the original Santa Monica line that
their port, being twenty-five miles nearer San Francisco than
is San Pedro, and also three or four miles nearer Los
Angeles, would naturally take away from the ancient em-
barcadero all the freight and passenger business that could
be conveniently handled through Santa Monica. It was in
pursuance of this same theory that in the year 1889, the
Redondo Railway Company, an organization of capitalists
from Oregon, whose leaders, Captains Ainsworth and
Thompson, had enjoyed large experience in coast transport-
ation, constructed a wharf at Redondo and a narrow
gauge railway to Los Angeles from that point. Redondo is
on the southern corner of Santa Monica Bay, just about
midway between Santa Monica and San Pedro. Owing to
the existence of a submarine canyon directly in front of the
town, it was possible to reach deep water with a short
wharf, and the topography of the shore was such as to give
a safe anchorage for deep-sea vessels, except on the rare oc-
casions when great storms prevailed. Within a year after
the Redondo company had blazed the way, the Santa Fe
followed; and a second wharf was constructed at Redondo;
and presently great quantities of freight from the north
began to flow into Los Angeles by way of the new port.
In 1890 182 vessels landed cargoes there; in 1891, 194; and
in 1892, 250. Among these were many deep-sea vessels that
had formerly been compelled to make use of the slow and
expensive method of delivering their cargoes by lighters at
San Pedro; and some of them came from New York hy
way of Cape Horn.

By the year 1892 it was computed that over 60 per cent
of all the water traffic in and out of Los Angeles, if coal
and lumber were excluded, was passing by way of Redondo.

THE TERMINAL RAILWAY. 65

Now, the coal that came into San Pedro was largely used
by the Southern Pacific, hence the company was limited to
its lumber business and about half its former general
merchandise business to pay expenses and profits on its San
Pedro branch; and from being a very handsome piece of
property that line began to hang a dead weight.

There was still one more element of disadvantage in the
Southern Pacific's San Pedro location, and one which is rated
by many people as most serious, although it was made light
of by the officials of the road, and that was the entrance of the
Terminal Railway into good wharfage ground on the east
side of the interior harbor. The Terminal Company was a
corporation formed for the purpose of acquiring and holding
terminal facilities in the city of Los Angeles and upon the
ocean front, with a view to subsequently leasing them to
larger systems of railways. At the time the road was built
which was in 189 1-2, it was generally understood that the
Union Pacific, which was just then undergoing reorgan-
ization, and was attempting new development, or perhaps
some one of the other roads that were working their way
westward from Denver, would come down from Salt Lake
over the easy grades of Utah, Nevada and the California
desert country, to Los Angeles, and that the Terminal was
to be its Los Angeles and deep-water outlet. The approach
of the panic deferred immediate action, and then followed
the long era of bad times, so that even at this writing, the
expected connection with Salt Lake City has not been
achieved. Undoubtedly the projectors of the Terminal, who
are capitalists and railway builders living in St. Louis, R.
C. Kerens and Geo. B. Leighton among them, are in touch
with any development that is likely to come to Los Angeles
from a northwesterly direction, and it is proper enough
even yet to refer to the Terminal as the probable last link
of a new transcontinental line. It was in that form that it
originally appeared in the section, and the regard in which it
was held by the people was in some measure affected by their
gratification over this promise of new gain in railway
strength.

In establishing its connections to the north and northeast
f roni Los Angeles — to Glendale and to Pasadena— the Ter-
minal purchased existing motor roads, but when it made its

66 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

way to the sea it constructed a new and an independent line.
Relying upon the judgment of the United States engineers,
that San Pedro was the proper place for a deep-sea harbor tc
be located, in the event that the government should decide to
build one, and believing that Congress must of necessity
follow the advice of the engineers, the new company chose
San Pedro as its ocean terminus. Its line parallels the
Southern Pacific about five miles further to the east, until
it i-ea'ches Long Beach; thence it makes its way along the
Coast over Rattlesnake — or, as it was rechristened. Terminal
island — to East San Pedro. On the western shore of the
island, along the interior harbor, wharves were constructed
and lumber, coal and miscellaneous merchandise frotti the
sea began to come in by this route.

Thus it is shown that the Southern Pacific, regarding the
matter purely from a business standpoint, had ample justifi-
cation for its efforts to secure a new landing place, arid
it chose — as was most natural — ^the point that .was
farthest to the north and was yet practicable for use, and
also the location where it was least likely to be an-
noyed by competitors. The spot selected was at Port Los
Angeles — the name given it by Mr. John M. Crawley, the
Los Angeles agent of the Southern Pacific — about two miles
north of Santa Monica and half a mile north of the mouth
of Santa Monica canyon.

The railway line to Santa Monica was extended by means
of a tunnel and cut through the bluff, which brought the
road out on the ocean front. The beach at this point is a little
over 300 feet wide and the bluff is about 70 feet high. As
the road continues to the north, the bluff increases in height,
until 180 feet is reached in the vicinity of the wharf. The
width of the beach is about the same throughout, the dis-
tance varying, we may say, from 300 to 400 feet.

The wharf which the company put out at this spot may
be perhaps best described by reproducing an official uttei
ance — a clause in the report of the board of 1896 — the last
of the many harbor commissions :

"The pier built by the Southern Pacific is a very thor-
;oughly constructed timber pier, the piles being creosoted
Jand the superstructure carefully designed. In locating the
> pier care was taken to align it as nearly as possible in the

CHIEF ENGINEER HOOD; 67

• direction of the approach of the heaviest swells, which was
I determined experimentally to be south 42 degrees 24 minutes
! west, magnetic. The tracks of the Southern Pacific railway
1 run to the extreme end of this pier, around which is a well-
! arranged system of mooring buoys, so that vessels lying at
I the pier can be breasted off, leaving them free to rise and fall
[with the swell. The pier is 4,300 feet loiig and terminates
Jin 5J4 fathoms of water. It is the most carefully designed
j and thoroughly constructed ocean pier on the California
f coast."

Its cost was on one occasion stated by Mr. Huntington to
be about $1,000,000. This was the figure which Mr. Frye
used several times when he referred to it in the Senate and
in committee. It is quite probable that Mr. Hiantington did
not mean the wharf alone, but included in the sum which he
mentioned, the line to the wharf and other contingent im-
provements. Its actual cost was sorhewhere in the neigh-
borhood of $600,000.

The best authority as to the views and purposes of the
Southern Pacific road in this whole matter, outside of Mr.
Huntington himself — and perhaps in sorne ways a better
authority even thah Mr. lluntington — is Mr. Hood. The
head of the engineering department of a great railway sys-
tem like the Southern Pacific is sotnethihg more than an
engineer. He is of necessity a financier, a business man, a
lawyer, a manager of rhen and a diplomat. He is, or should
be, an "all round" man, as the every-day phrase expresses it;
and Mr. Hood comes very near filling this diflficult and ex-
tensive bill of particulars. His rrianagement of the South-
ern Pacific's case for Santa Monica, through two successive
investigations by government boards, was worthy of the
praise that it received even from the opponents of that side;
and the defeat which he met in each case, and the ultimate
failure of his cause, was certainly not due to ahy lack of
judgment oti his part, but to tlie difficult policy he Was called
Upon to support. It is, by the way, one splendidly redeeming
quality of this corporation, that it attracts to its service so
fliany men of fine cTiaracter dnd exceptional abilities, who
never Waver in their allegiaiice, and who, even tinder the
fn6st trying cirCdfnstanc^s, will maintain at once their devo-
tion to the road, theif own self-respect and the ardetrt i-egard

68

THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

of those with whom they are in daily contact. It happened
that the two men who were in charge of the Southern
Pacific's affairs in Los Angeles, through the whole of this
contest, Mr. John A. Muir, the superintendent of this divis-
ion, and Mr. J. M. Crawley, the general agent, were men
of this sort. They were good fighters, and they stood by
the works as long as there was anything left to fight for;
but they descended to nothing that was mean or tricky, they

JOHN M. CRAWLEY.

kept their tempers and accumulated no crop of private ene-
mies — which makes up a record that may give them just
pride.

But to return to Mr. Hood. When he was on the stand
as a witness before the board of '92, he was asked why the
Southern Pacific had given up its deep-water wharf project
at San Pedro, and had entered upon one at Santa Monica.
His answer — which is important as the statement of the
railway side of the question — ran as. follows : "In reference
to Santa Monica, I will say that the Southern Pacific is a
corporation that has many millions of dollars at stake in its
business. It is not accustomed to build wharves 4,500 feet

FOR BUSINESS REASONS. 69

long, the length of which is for shipping facilities, when it
already has such facilities at San Pedro. But it has been
borne in on this company so peremptorily by nature — for
freight and passenger business follows the laws of nature —
that any company that relied wholly for their connection of
rail with ships on San Pedro would go to the wall in that
regard. So that now we are building, without any reference
to any breakwater proposition, or deep-sea harbor proposi-
tion whatever, a wharf at Santa Monica which will, ten
months in the year, take safely, we think, any sea-going
vessels that choose to come there. We are going to carry
that to completion, and the expense will be very great; there
is where we expect to do a great deal of business. And
it is so obvious to any business man that a company like the
Southern Pacific is not going to make such an expenditure
for any other reason than the actual necessities of the case,
that I think it calls for no demonstration."

The primary reason, then, for the Southern Pacific's
change of base from San Pedro to Santa Monica, accord-
ing to the statement of one of its leading officials, was to
secure the coast business which was slipping away from
it. Subsequently various other reasons were developed;
one was that the holding-ground at San Pedro was bad, but
this was abandoned when put to the test; another was that
the proposed deep-water harbor at San Pedro would be less
adapted to any scheme of bringing ship and rail together
than at Santa Monica, and that vessels lying at the former
harbor were more subject to danger from winds and heavy
seas than at the latter. In the end the road succeeded in
working up a complete and well-rounded case against San
Pedro and in favor of Santa Monica, based on purely techni-
cal grounds; but its action in the first place was undoubtedly
from the motive of business interest alone.

CHAPTER VIII.
The Issue Takes Shape.
TN presenting the motives of the Southern Pacific's
1 change of base, we have been compelled to anticipate,
to some extent, the succession of events as they actually oc-
curred. For example, it was not evident, at the time the
long wharf at Santa Monica was begun in 1 891, that the road
contemplated any change in its attitude with reference to a
deep-sea harbor. Indeed, it was not until the Craighill board
met in the fall of 1892, that the outlines of the plan were
developed, and even then the great majority of the people of
Los Angeles were not disposed to regard the matter
seriously. It was still another year before the nature of the
entire scheme was reached, and the public came thoroughly
to understand the issue and prepared to act upon it.

In the fall of 1891 Charles Felton, who had been ap-
pointed by the Governor to fill out the unexpired Senatorial
term of George Hearst, deceased, visited Los Angeles on
the request of the Chamber of Commerce, inspected the har-
bor at San Pedro, and was present at a public meeting when
the matter of an appropriation to begin work on the outside
harbor was discussed. General Vandever, whose four years
of service as representative of the Sixth Congressional dis-
trict had now concluded, and W. W. Bowers, of San Diego,
his successor, were both present at this gathering. Mr. Fel-
ton inquired very thoroughly into the facts of the case, and
promised to make it one of the special objects of his first
year's work to secure the initial appropriation.

Early in 1892 Senator Felton and Representative Bowers
wrote to the chamber, advising that, if possible, a special
delegate be sent on to watch the San Pedro item in its
progress through the two houses. This was in accordance
with the plan already adopted by the chamber, and steadily
adhered to ever since, of sending some capable representative
citizen to assist the congressmen in caring for the section's
commercial interest. This method was preferred to that in
vogue in some quarters of hiring the expert, but often un-
scrupulous, lobbyists that may be had in Washington.

T. E. GIBBON'S SERVICES. 71

For this purpose the Chamber selected one of its direc-
tors, Mr. Charles Forman, a gentleman who is hel4 in grefit
esteem in Los Angeles for ability and high character. He
has since that time served two terrns as president of the
organization, of which he was then a director. He was to
be accompanied by a young man whose name will appe^ri
frequently in these pages hereafter, as a large factor in the

T. E. GIBBON.

fight, and, both for the part he played and for the unusual
character that he is, he deserves more than passing mention.
Thomas Edward Gibbon, whose direct interest in the con-
test grows out of his position as attorney and vice-president
of the Terminal railway, was at this time barely thirty years
of age, and a comparatively recent accession to Los Angeles
from Arkansas. The son of a studious and thoughtful
country doctor, whose fortunes were broken by the war, but

72 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

whose "library was dukedom large enough," he came
through heredity to those scholarly characteristics that are to
most men the outgrowth of years of work at school and
college — representing privileges to him denied. After a
youth spent in the hard, steady labor of the farm, with even-
ings of Shakespeare and Scott, he studied law, and began to
practice in the city of Little Rock.

Politics was to him an infantile disease, from which he
suffered acutely for a time, and then recovered, with no
serious after-consequences. He was the youngest member
of the Arkansas Legislature of 1895, and that the entire
State was not reformed and made over forthwith was proba-
bly not due to any lack of enthusiasm and vigor on his part.
The total collapse of his health, a year or two later, caused
him to lay down his work and spend some months in Europe.
Like three men out of four now living in Los Angeles, he
came to Southern California "on a doctor's certificate."
There he renewed the practice of law and the affairs of the
Terminal were presenth'^ placed in his hands.

While Mr. Gibbon's part in the contest was affected to
some extent, without doubt, by his relations to the Terminal,
yet anyone who knows him. well will admit that he must,
sooner or later, have taken an active hand in the contest, had
he been free from business affiliations with either side. In
the first place, he inherits from some Irish ancestor that pe-
culiarly delicate and indefinable characteristic which
prompts men who are entirely averse to seeking a quarrel,
thoroughly to enjoy one that is forced upon them. Then,
again, being himself essentially a man of the people, and
naturally democratic in his tastes and tendencies, Mr. Gib-
bon must inevitably have lined up with the anti-monopoly
side of the fight. His heart was very thoroughly with his
head in the battle, and a boundless enthusiasm, and a confi-
dence in the ultimate success of what he believed to be the
righteous cause, came to aid his indomitable perseverance
and energy.

Mr. Gibbon was almost the first, if not indeed the verj
first, out of the many who were interested in the harbor at
San Pedro, to outline the plan of the Southern Pacific to
go to Santa Monica, abandoning the ancient harbor. Before
his departure for Washington, in January of 1892, he de-

SENATOR FELTON'S AMENDMENT. 73

tailed to one of the officers of the Chamber his theory that,
owing to the gain in time between San Francisco and Santa
Monica, as against San Pedro, the Southern Pacific was
likely to favor the more northern port.

His theor)' did not receive much attention, but was at-
tributed to the fact that he was a "new-comer" and presum-
ably unacquainted with existing conditions. The Southern
Pacific had for twenty years worked faithfully in conjunc-
tion with the people of Los Angeles for the development of
San Pedro harbor, and they had even torn down and cut to
pieces their wharf at Santa Monica. On the occasion of
Senator Felton's recent visit to the port, the Southern Pa-
cific had graciously provided a train free of charge for him
and the Chamber of Commerce party. The corporation was
a good friend of the peopk of this section; there was no
such feeling against it as existed in the northern part of the
State. Besides, to settle the question of location, once and
for all, had not the government sent a commission of engi-
neers, and had they not reported favorably on a harbor at
San Pedro?

Circumstances delayed the departure of General Forman,
and the bill coming on for early action in the Senate, it
was not until the succeeding year that he fulfilled the mis-
sion. Mr. Gibbon went on alone, and presently returned
with surprising news that confirmed his predictions.

True to his pledge Senator Felton had presented the
cause of the San Pedro deep-water improvement so forcibly
to the Committee on Commerce, that there seemed at one
time a possibility that the item of $250,000, which was the
sum set for the original direct appropriation, might carry.*

Then it was that Senator Frye produced a telegram signed
by Wm. Hood, the Southern Pacific chief of engineers,
which was the opening gun of the great contest.

It is to be regretted that no copy of this telegram forms
part of the public record of the case, inasmuch as its exact
substance was the cause of no little debate a few years later.
It was asserted at the time, by those who heard it read, that
it was chiefly taken up with the statement that the holding

* It was thought best not to attempt the continuing contract form of
appropriation, but to apply for a portion of the required sum to be
available directly.

74 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

ground at San Pedro was rock, and could not be made
usable, and that the Southern Pacific's abandonment of its
projected wharf to deep water at that place was due to the
impossibility of driving piles into the hard bottom. Sen-
ator Frye evidently considered that the basis of the techni-
cal objection to San Pedro, for he referred to it time and
again in his speeches, even after the Craighill board had
thoroughly disproved the statement; and he quoted Mr.
Hood as his authority. The interesting, not to say amusing,
feature of the case, and the reason why the substance of
the telegram was subsequently under dispute, was that four
years later Mr. Hood testified before the Walker board that
the holding ground of San Pedro was all right, and prac-
tically free from rock. Of course, as a scientific man and as
an engineer, he could not say anything else; for it is not a
rocky bottom.

However, Mr. Hood's objections to San Pedro, as set
forth in the famous mislaid telegram, were of a sort to
prove convincing to the commerce committee, and the item
of $250,000 was thrown out. Senator Felton then ap-
pealed to the committee to take the proper steps to settle the
question of the harbor site — "once and for all" — and also,
since the question had been asked by several members of
the committee, whether there was any reason for building
such a harbor at either location, to get a decision for that
point as well.

In response to Senator Felton's appeal, the following was
inserted in the River and Harbor bill of 1892, which formed
the basis of the appointment of what was subsequently
known as the "Craighill Board :"

The Secretary of War is hereby authorized and directed
! to appoint a board of five engineering officers of the United
[ States Army, whose duty it shall be to make a careful and
i critical examination for a proposed deep-water harbor at
I San Pedro or Santa Monica Bays, and to report which is
I the more eligible location for such a harbor in depth, width
5 and capacity to accommodate the largest ocean-going ves-
j sels, and the commercial and naval necessities of the country,
|togther with an estimate of the cost of the same. Said
' Board of Engineers shall report the result of its investiga-
} tions to the Secretary of War on or before the first of No-

GOOD WILL TOWARD THE RAILROAD. 75

)vember, 1892; and ten thousand dollars, or so much thereof
ias may be necessary, are hereby apprpriated for said pur-
\ pose.

The phrase "and the commercial and naval necessities of
the country" was interpreted to mean that the Board should
consider what relation the proposed harbor bore to the com-
merce not of Southern California alone but of the whole
country. In this way the vexed question of whether any
harbor was needed would also be settled "once and for all."
The phrase is quoted because it at last became a byword
with the people of Los Angeles, who saw one "final set-
tlement" after another brushed aside by the Southern Pa-
cific.

No one thought of Santa Monica as an alternative factor
in the case, until the Craighill Board was about to begin its
investigations the following summer, and the Southern Pa-
cific formally took up the cause of Port Los Angeles. From
this "no one," however, we must except Mr. Gibbon, and a
few who had begun to listen with interest and some degree
of confidence to the "damnable iteration" of his theories.

But even as people, one by one and slowly, came to under-
stand the Southern Pacific's position, there was no feeling
of special resentment against that corporation since its right
to favor any locality it might choose for such an improve-
ment was generally conceded. Many regretted that the is-
sue had been raised, but they made no question that the
board which was to be appointed would put an end to all
debate.

The citizens of Los Angeles and vicinity were at that
time generally well-disposed toward the Southern Pacific;
it had treated the people fairly and had received full justice
in return. There were not lacking, of course, those who
made a point of explaining that this amicable state of affairs
was entirely due to the presence in Southern California of ■
an active competitor, and that in the northern part of
the State — where no such competition existed — the
Southern Pacific was in very bad odor for its exactions
and its harsh treatment of patrons; but to them it was
answered that the north might fight its own battles : we
of the south were not concerned. The general sen-
timent with regard to the railroad was that it had

76 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

been one of the most important factors in bringing pros-
perity to the section, fighting its way across the desert coun-
try of the southwest, at a time when the outlook was most
discouraging, and opening up with its many branches all sec-
tions of Southern California. It was operated in a thor-
ough, systematic and orderly style, which at that time pre-
sented something of a contrast to its chief competitor, the
Santa Fe, then in the depths of financial difficulty.* Its peo-
ple were trained to politeness and consideration, and they
were, as a rule, well liked. It rarely happens that a railway
corporation, as such, can be described as popular, especially
in a country where, according to Poor's Manual, more than
half of the securities for which earnings must be made are
fictitious; nevertheless, the Southern Pacific in Los Angeles
up to and even into the beginning of the harbor contest,
came very near to enjoying that exalted state.

Therefore it happened, that when the purposes of the
road were finally developed, a great many people, who had
been warm advocates of the San Pedro location, began to
declare openly, that if our great and good friend Hunting-
ton — great for his wealth and his recognized power at Wash-
ington, and good in that he seemed to favor us as against the
northern part of the State — desired the harbor to go to
Santa Monica, he should be given his own way — what dif-
ference did it make to the people of Los Angeles? Santa
Monica was seveial miles nearer than San Pedro. It was a
beautiful location and popular as a summer resort, while
there were drunken sailors frequently to be seen at the other
place. Probably the government engineers had made some
mistake; Mr. Hood was a high authority in the profession.

To this an answer was offered, that Congress was not
likely to appropriate money for a harbor against the advice
of its own engineers; and it was also stated, now for the
first time, that the Southern Pacific had been buying land
along the shore where the proposed harbor was to be located,
and if Santa Monica won, it meant a "monopoly harbor."

However, before the debate had more than fairly begun, the

• This condition of contrast, it is perhaps needless to say, no longer
exists, for the Santa P^ at the present time is one of the best equipped
and best conducted roads in the Union.

A PUBLIC SESSION. 77

Craighill Board came to Los Angeles, and a general armistice
was decreed until their report should be heard. On all hands
it was admitted that this report was to "settle the question."

CHAPTER IX.
The Craighill Board.

THE Board of Engineers, which Senator Felton's amend-
ment called for, was appointed early in July, 1892,
and consisted of the following: Colonel Wm. P. Craighill,
Lieutenant-Colonel Henry M. Robert, Lieutenant-Colonel
Peter C. Hains, Major C. W. Raymond and Major Thos.
Ji. Handbury, all of the United States corps of engineers,
and well skilled in harbor work.

This Board convened at San Francisco in September, and
after examining the maps and charts on file at headquarters
of the Coast and Geodetic survey, repaired to Los An-
geles, where it was announced they would hold a public
meeting on the 8th at the rooms of the Chamber of Com-
merce.

Some little surprise was expressed at the idea of a public
meetmg for the consideration of what was supposed to be
purely a technical issue, but subsequent developments proved
the wisdom of this plan. While it is not probable that any
very material facts that assisted the Board in coming to a
decision, were brought out by this process, it did away with
the possibility of any claim that the proceedings were of a
"star chamber" character, or that either side failed of a fair
hearing. It is the established practice of the government in
such cases to call on the people generally for any evidence
they may have to offer; and afterward a technical considera-
tion is given to winds, waves, currents, soundings, borings,
and other matters on which the public is presumably not so
well informed.

The Chamber of Commerce tendered its large meeting
hall for the use of the Board, its officers stating that while
the organization had heretofore been in favor of the San
Pedro location, now that the question was opened up afresh

78 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

by the government, it would maintain an attitude of neu-
trality.

Several hundred people were present at the meeting, about
equally divided in number between the three ports of San
Pedro, Santa Monica and Redondo. C. M. Wells, the pres-
ident of the Chamber, occupied the chair, and in his opening
remarks said:

It is proper to say that, in this matter of selecting the best
! site for a harbor upoii this coast, the Chamber of Commerce
lis not taking a part; is not throwing its influence in favor
I of one place as against another. Los Angeles city and the
1 surrounding country desire a deep-water harbor, and we
I all understand that it is the effort of these eminent engineer-
I ing officers to determine which is the most suitable point for
I the construction of such a harbor, and where it can be con-
I structed at the least cost. So that the Chamber of Commerce
', is simply aiding these engineers in collecting their informa-
jtion; and that is what this merting is for.

Although a large part of. the testimony offered was of an
irregular and unscientific character — as was to be ex-
pected — and some of it partook rather of the nature of
stump speaking, a number of points were brought out that
had a decided bearing on the contest, whatever weight they
may have had with the engineers.

The question of the Southern Pacific ownership in and
around the Santa Monica location was thus briefly touched
upon by Mr. Shorb in his opening remarks :

There are some matters that I think ought to be given
I public expression to here. I do not speak with any rancor
I or any unkitidness, but there are some things that look
I rather peculiar, and that we, as citizens, have a right to
I inquire into. During all these years, since Alexandet and
I Mendell and those geiitlemeh have been ehlployed in coiti-
Ipletirig the iiiiprovehletits at San Pedro, the advantages
[there have pritlcipally beeh to the Southern Pacific Com-
I paily. I have had long conversations With Governor Stan-
:ford and Mr. Huntington. Both these gehtlemen have
I time and again said that Wilmington was their otily point.
I Governor Stanford told me himself that he proposed td
|mske it the work of his senatorial life to secure for that
; point such appropriations as might be needed. He even
I went so far, after acquiring wharf privileges at Santa

the; southern pacific change. 79

, Monica and building and using a wharf, as to pull it down.
I think it is a privilege and a right for us to enquire now:
How is it that those gentlemen think all that has been
i done down here has beeii wasted money, and that the only
I point for the government engineers to select is some place
1 down here in the gorge of Santa Monica, which, according to
\ common report — I don't state it as a fact, and I have no
I doubt that these gehtlemen will answer that proposition —
' is to work to their exclusive advantage, if built ?

The same point was argued more at length by Dr. J. P.
Widney, as follows :

I went with Governor Stanford over the San Pedro har-
ibor several times. Fot- twelve or fifteen years they said
I only one thing : "There is ho other point on this coast
I where we have even thought of going." And they ex-
1 amined it all carefully. And Governor Statiford said : "I
1 expect to live to see the day when our commerce goes to
, San Pedro instead of San Francisco." And they stayed
I there for years. And that was their only point when they
I tore down their wharf at Santa Monica, and said that it
I was worthless. Now they want to change front and say,

'We will go to Santa Monica." I am sorry to say, gehtle-
I men, we have realized one thing in this country. The
I Southern Pacific came here and at first had everybody for
I its friend; but we have learned that when they, want atiy-
' thing very badly our interest lies the other way. They have
I whirled front, after about fifteen years use and advocacy
I of Sari Pedro, and . have gone to Santa Monica and are
I building a wharf there. And I would advise our citizens
1 to ask who owns the land right back of there. I don't know.

I know some of my acquaintances were endeavoring to
! buy a certain tract of land down about Santa Monica can-
; yon, involving a great many hundred acres. The man
; siid it was bid in for the Southern Pacific. It is gone.
; We have lost it. It is not in their name* but it is bought
; for them. Here is a narrow strip of land in front of a
; bluff about one hundred feet high, and the Southern Pacific

has a right-of-way all along that; and that is where the
I breakwater is to go; and what chance has anybody else? At

San Pedro we have two railroads in already. We have a
I large private ownership on the interior harbor, and the city
■ retains part ownership.

Tlie Southerri Pacific answer to these "miserable irisinu-

8o THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

■ ations," as they were denominated by Judge Carpenter, who
conducted the case for that corporation and for Santa
Monica, was to place on the stand Mr. Chas. Monroe, an
attorney of Los Angeles, who testified that as the representa-
tives of Messrs. Jcnes and Baker, who owned the land along
the beach from the town of Santa Monica to the canyon, he
had arranged the papers for the right-of-way of the South-
ern Pacific, giving them a strip 50 feet wide .directly under
the bluff, and that the object of Messrs. Jones and Baker
in so placing the right-of-way had been to leave room for
other railroads between the Southern Pacific and tide water ;
and also Mr. Wm. Hood, who showed a plat of the property
holdings along the beach in the vicinity of the proposed
breakwater. He stated that a gentleman, who might be re-
garded as. the representative of Mr. C. P. Huntington, held
2,000 feet of frontage running to the water's edge imme-
diately back of the wharf, but he declared that this left over
two-thirds of the protected area still open to use by other
roads. In the cross-examination by Mr. Gibbon the situ-
ation was developed somewhat further, as follows :

Mr. Gibbon : As I understand you, this land here, ex-
I tending from the canyon, is the private property of Mr.
I Huntington, the president of the company ?

Mr. Hood : I say it is my opinion that it is. I don't
', know the details, but I understand it to be so ; and you
! might as well assume it.

Mr. Gibbon : That is land with a very high bluff ?

Mr. Hood: Yes, sir.

Mr. Gibbon: And your company owns or controls all
[this property here. That represents a frontage of how
1 much ?

Mr. Hood : It is about 2000 feet, more or less.

Mr. Gibbon: What we are getting at just now is the
i length of the usable land for railroad purposes, the breadth,
I rather, between those aligning bluffs and tide water.

Mr. Hood: I think other roads could go parallel with
lours, outside the right of way, for about seventy-five or
! eighty feet, and hold it, as we propose to hold it, with rock.

Mr. Gibbon : But you cut off all access here. It is neces-
; sary to cut across your track to get across here.

Mr. Hood : It would be; but there is room here.

Mr. Gibbon: In point of fact, your company at the

DECISION REGARDED AS FINAL. 8i

j present time occupies a strip of land the full width of the
1 water front, leaving possible for any other company a very
I narrow strip of, say, seventy-five feet in width ?

Mr. Hood: No, averaging at least a hundred; about
I room for seven tracks, without doing any strengthening
I work to protect against the ocean.

Mr. Gibbon : And there is no possible approach from this
I side, because that is all bluff ?

Mr. Hood : That would be very difficult.

No extended argument on this subject was offered, either
because the San Pedro people were not yet sufficiently sure
of their ground, or else because it was thought the case was
strong enough on the technical merits of the two harbors.
As we have said before, the so-called "monopoly" feature
of the harbor, which was afterwards the subject of so much
discussion, was at this time seldom referred to.

That there was a disposition on the part of the San Pedro
people to regard the decision of this Board as a finality —
whatever it might be — shows very clearly in the utterance
of Mr. Shorb, who was the acknowledged representative of
that side of the case. He said, in beginning his remarks
to the Board : "Whatever your decision may be in reference
to this point, gentlemen, in behalf of myself, in behalf of the
people of Wilmington and San Pedro, we bow absolute sub-
mission to your judgment."

While none of the Santa Monica or Southern Pacific
speakers put the idea into definite words that appear in the
record, it was freely expressed in conversation, and Judge
Carpenter showed it in the sentiment of his concluding
speech, in which he said :

But after all, gentlemen of the Board, the question
j comes down to a matter of engineering, a matter of figures ;
jand that you will determine from the proof that has been
[and will be laid before you. We want what is fair. We
' want no aspersions cast upon anybody, without some proof.
» We have cast none upon the other side. We have abused
'nobody; we have denounced nobody; we have questioned
• nobody's motives, and we humbly submit that nobody has
la right, in the name of morality or conscience, or any
! other thing, to question ours, until there is some proof that
I they are wrong.

We stand upon our manhood and our rights. We can

82 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

> defend Santa Monica without aspersing or lying about or-
abusing San Pedro or Redondo or any railroad under
heaven. We stand upon the bottom of truth and justice
and commercial economy, and the best interests of the peo-
ple of Southern California; and that is a platform that will
j stand, when all these miserable insinuations, with their
\ authors, are buried in eternal oblivion.

The report of the Board was filed October 27, 1892,
and was presented to Congress and referred to the Com-
mittee on Rivers and Harbors December 7.

It is an interesting and comprehensive document, and
practically completes the case for San Pedro from the tech-
nical point of view. It failed to touch on the question of
the Southern Pacific control of Santa Monica, either to absolve
it from the charge or to condemn it. But the Board did con-
sider, with practical thoroughness, the question of the
national commercial necessity for a harbor in Southern Cal-
ifornia near Los Angeles.

After a brief introduction, describing the work of the
Board, the report takes up the general topic of commercial
and naval relations, as follows :*

Santa Monica and San Pedro bays are situated upon the
I southern coast of California, between Point Dume and Point
> Lasuen. Santa Monica bay extends from Point Dume to
; Point Vincente, and San Pedro bay from Point Ferrnin to
Point Lasuen. Back of this portion of the coast lie the
[counties of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino,
) which include the most productive and valuable territory in
I Southern California. The good lands in this region are sit-
(uated generally close together and are easily accessible by
hand or sea. The facilities for irrigation are excellent and
capable of great future extension. Owing to these advan-
tages this territory is now, and doubtless will continue to be
the most important in the Southern part of the State.
j The commercial center of this region is the city of Los
\ Angeles, which is situated about thirteen miles from the

* It has been thought advisable to present the report of the Craighill
Board almost in full, as it constitutes the best technical treatise on the
merits of the two harbors. The report of the Walker Board, which
considered the same topic two years later, is more voluminous and
represents a greater amount of thorough investigation, but its con-
clusions are practically identical with those of the Craighill report, and
it offers very little material that is really new.

r n

RELIEF MAP OF I,08 ANGELES COUNTY.

84 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

1 nearest point on the coast. This city has grown with great
I rapidity, and has now a population of about 55,000. It is
I not only the principal city of the most productive district,
Jbut it is also the point of intersection of all the southern

transcontinental and coastwise railway lines, and it will
[probably always be the most important city of Southern
' California.

Owing to the topography of the country the natural
'ocean outlet of this region must be found between Points
|Dume and San Juan.Capistrano; in other words, either in
' Santa Monica or San Pedro bay. High mountain ranges,

requiring heavy grades, expensive to work, obstruct its

communication with the port of San Diego, the only har-
Ibor.on the south; and on the north the approaches to the.
I coast are difficult, and there is no good harbor nearer than

San Francisco bay.

The principal products of this region are oranges and
I other fruits, wines and brandies, vegetables and grain. By
; far the larger part of these products is transported by the
; railways, the most advantageous and extensive markets
' being found in our own country. The only shipping ports

for the part transported* by water along the coast or to
' foreign countries are the harbor of Wilmington, situated
I at the northwestern end of San Pedro bay, and the wharf
lat Redondo Beach, near the southern extremity of Santa
! Monica bay. The Southern Pacific Company is now con-
I structing an extensive wharf a short distance west of Santa
; Monica canyon.

A general idea of the volume and character of the seaport
J business transacted at the present time may be formed from
[the following statistics, which relate to the year 1891. The
'number of coasting vessels which arrived during the year
jat Wilmington was 546, and at Redondo 255, and 41 vessels,
J entered from foreign ports, making a total of 842 vessels.
jThe principal export was wheat, the value of which was
I about $40,000. The principal imports from foreign coun-
tries were coal, cement and glass, the value of which was
I about $370,000. The value of the coal, most of which
! comes from Australia, was about $340,000. The imports in
; coasting vessels at Wilmington were 53,643,060 feet of
[lumber, 342,525 railway ties, and 14,358 tons of other
[articles; and at Redondo 20,689,464 feet of lumber, and
[29,179 tons of other article-s.

It will appear from the above that the maritime exports
\ of this region are at present insignificant, and that the im-

FUTURE DEEP-SEA COMMERCE, 85

I ports from foreign ports, with the exception of coal, are
I of little consequence. The coastwise traffic, consisting princi-
I pally of the importation of lumber, forms by far the most
' important part of the seaport business. The existing har-
ibor facilities for the accommodation of this traffic consist
I of the port of Wilmington, the improved channel of which
I has a minimum depth of about 14 feet at mean low water,
I and at the port of Redondo, at whose wharf, it is stated, ves-
I sels of the largest draft can lie with perfect safety, except
', for a few days in the year. The landing facilities will be
[considered more fully in a subsequent part of this report.
I They are now briefly mentioned to show that the present
I demands of commerce, either for safety or convenience,
[ do not appear to be such as would justify the construction
I of a deep-water harbor at great expense by the general
I government.

By far the most important aspect of this subject, how-
i ever, is its relation to the probable future development of
i the deep-sea commerce of the country. Heretofore the
! Asiatic trade has naturally gone to San Francisco, but it
I has been pointed out that the construction of the Canadian
1 and Northern Pacific railroads has introduced two com-
I petitors for the overland transportation of the Asiatic com-
I merce. Two through lines, the Southern Pacific and the
' Santa Fe systems, cross the continent from Los Angeles at
> much lower elevations than the northern lines, and also con-
I nect the Pacific with the Gulf of Mexico, and their opera-
ition is never obstructed by snow or ice. If a safe, access-
1 ible and convenient harbor for deep-draft vessels existed on
1 the southern coast these would appear the most favorable
I lines for the transportation of Asiatic and Australian com-
I merce.

Should the Nicaragua canal be completed the importance
I of the proposed harbor will become still greater. At the
I present time the most convenient course for sailing vessels
' coming around the Horn is to go out into the mid-Pacific
I and strike the trade winds to make the port of San Fran-
' Cisco. With the completion of the canal, commerce will be
I principally transported by steam vessels of moderate draft,
I which will move north along the coast and seek the nearest
1 favorable and convenient port from which their freight can
1 reach its market.

A deep-water harbor on the southern coast would thus
I receive the Asiatic and Australian freights for shipment
lover the most favorable transcontinental lines, accommo-

86 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

idate a large part of the commerce passing through the
I Nicaragua canal which now goes around the Horn, and
; finally furnish a port of shipment and supply not only for
I the productive territory in its immediate vicinity, but also
i for the great interior plateau reached by the southern rail-
! ways beyond the mountain ranges. Considering, therefore,
J the probable needs of commerce in the near future, the
J board is of the opinion that the proposed deep-water harbor
is of high national importance and well worthy of con-

> struction by the general government.

I As regards the naval necessities of the country, it must
I be remarked that the harbor of San Diego is in location,
1 accessibility, anchorage area, and defensive capacity better
; adapted to the pa- poses of a naval rendezvous than any
i artificial deep-water harbor which can be constructed on this
j part of the coast. This harbor is near the Mexican frontier.
I The entrance is easily approached, and there are no outlying
[dangers. The minimum depth over the bar at mean low
; water is now 21 feet, which is to be increased to 26 feet
'under the adopted project for improvement, and the deep-
I water anchorage within covers an area of about 933 acres.
I As already indicated, this harbor does not fully satisfy the
1 conditions of a great comme<rcial port for the service of
Ithe country northwest of it, owing to unfavorable topo-
I graphical conditions ; but these conditions do not affect its
\ supremacy for naval purposes.

Nevertheless, Santa Monica and San Pedro bays furnish
I convenient landing place from which an enemy could readily
I conduct hostile operations against Southern California, and
j it is therefore of the highest importance that the location of
I a harbor in this vicinity should be selected with special ref-
I erence to its capacity for easy and efficient defense.

The conclusions of the board, with reference to the rela-
itions of the proposed deep-water harbor to the commercial
I and naval necessities of the country, may be summarized
I as follows : The present interests of the coastwise and for-
I eign transportation of Southern California do not justify
[the construction of such a harbor, although they would
I doubtless be benefited thereby ; but the prospective require-

> ments of foreign commerce amply warrant the government
' in its establishment, even at large expense. The location of
I such a harbor should be determined principally with ref er-
I ence to the convenient and ample accommodation of deep-
1 draft vessels engaged in foreign trade and the requirements
I of ships of war, the needs of the coastwise navigation and

THE PORTS COMPARED. 87

!the cost of construction being considered matters of sec-
) ondary importance.

Then follows a detailed technical description of the topog-
raphy of the section and its general meteorological condi-
tions. Then the board says :

It appears, then, that Santa Monica bay is entirely open
ito the moderate down-coast or west winds which prevail
I during the greater part of the year, and that it also is ex-
) posed to the dangerous winds and seas which occur during
I the winter months, coming from the south and southwest.
1 The degree of exposure is, however, not absolutely equal in
I all parts of the bay. The easterly end, near Malaga Cove,
I is afforded protection from the winds and seas from the
I south by the high land to the southward, which also
I affords partial protection from the southwest seas. Cata-
I lina island also aids in some degree to shelter this portion
I of the bay from southerly seas.

On the other hand, Santa Monica bay is entirely sheltered
' from the southeast winds by the high lands of San Pedro
' hill.

San Pedro bay is protected by the same high land from
!the prevailing down-coast wind. In ordinary weather the
I Bay of San Pedro is quiet and vessels lie safely at anchor, and
1 for the most part discharge cargo with lighters while the
I wind prevails. It was doubtless this circumstance which
I made this point the embarcadero of this part of the coast for
[the Mexican trade before California was acquired by the
I Americans. In more recent times the greater part of the
I commerce of this part of the country has also been trans-
[ acted here. Formerly all the deep-draft vessels from
[Australia and Puget Soiind discharged cargoes in this bay.
I Recently one of these ships discharged at the wharf at Re-
' dondo.

San Pedro bay is also protected to a great extent from
i the southwest sea and wind by the island of Santa Catalina,
(which lies about 18 miles off shore to the windward. This
I island is 17}^ miles in length and its height of 1,500 to
' 2,000 feet makes its shelter, as far as it extends, complete.
I It covers 48 degrees of the total arc of exposure from
I southwest seas, but leaves uncovered the angle between the
I westerly end of the island and Point Fermin, through which
I interval the direct southwest swells reach the San Pedro
I anchorage.

88 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

San Pedro bay is also directly exposed to the southeast
I seas, which approach through the interval between Point
: San Juan and the easterly end of Catalina island. While the
I winds and seas from the southeast are not regarded as form-
I idable, those from points farther around to the south, that
I enter through the open space last referred to, are considered
I to be heavier and more violent than those that approach the
I anchorage ground from the westward of Catalina.

The record of vessels wrecked at San Pedro shows that,
I with one exception, the disasters occurred during the south-
> erly storms, the heavy sea coming to the eastward of Cata-
>lina island. The vessels were driven ashore on the west
1 line of the bay. Among those lost were the Nicholas Bid-
Idle, Callao, Adelaide Cooper, San Luis American, R. P.
I'Buck, and the Kennebec. The exception noted was that
I of the Amy, which was driven ashore at Point Fermin
I during a northeast storm from the Santa Ana wind gap.

The arc of exposure at Santa Monica, extending from
: Point Dume on the west to Point Vincente on the east, is

loi degrees, at Ballona 104 degrees, and at Redondo 90
I degrees. Leaving out of consideration the last named point,
J regarded as impracticable on account of depth, we may call
I the arc of exposure of Santa Monica Bay 102 degrees.
; From Point Fermin as a center, the arc of exposure of

San Pedro bay around to the west of Catalina island is
I 60 degrees. The arc protected by the island is 48 degrees,
I and the arc included between the easterly end of the island
I and Point Loma is 42 degrees, making the total exposure of
! San Pedro bay to southeast and southwest winds and seas

102 degrees. The aggregate angle of exposure of the two
I bays is therefore the same.

A memorandum kindly furnished by Prof. Geo. Davidson,
I of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, a disinterested and
I able observer, to whose opinions the board attaches the
I highest value, contains the following interesting informa-
I tion with reference to storms and exposure along this part
I of the coast : In the southeasters the swell of the Pacific
I comes from the southwest, and along the greater part of
I the coast of California breaks squarely upon the shore,
I reaching from profound depths at a very short distance from
I the land. The only fairly protected part of the coast is
1 that from Point Concepcion eastward and southward to be-
1 tween San Pedro and San Diego. The winter storms of

LOCATION OF BREAKWATERS. 89

, this coast have, however, a marked peculiarity; the gales
i increase in violence as we proceed to the north. In the low
[latitude of Santa Monica and San Pedro bays the winter
[storms are comparatively moderate, and the great islands
5 of Santa Barbara form barriers against the full force of the
[winter swell. A strong evidence of the weakness of the
I destructive action of the southeast storms is seen in the
I very slow wearing away of the sandy clififs, and of the
I bluffs at San Pedro; nor could the exposed wharves be
[maintained in this region if the destructive action of the
> storms were great.

In order to effect a satisfactory comparison, it became
necessary for the board to select the exact location for a
breakwater in each of the sites that were considered, and
this discussion, which is entirely technical in its character,
occupies several pages of the report.

After considering the idea of a floating breakwater the
board dismisses Redondo with this paragraph:

The board is of the opinion that it would not be ad-
1 visable for the government to undertake the costly and
I doubtful experiment of establishing a floating breakwater
I at Redondo, especially as such a shelter is not needed for
[the protection of life or property, but merely for the oc-
[ casional convenience of navigation.

In concluding its discussion of the subject of breakwater
sites, the board says :

For the purpose of comparison, the board adopts the
' breakwater locations indicated by the Board of Engineers,
i of 1890, opposite Santa Monica village, and by the chief
I engineer of the Southern Pacific Company, above Santa
1 Monica canyon, as they are considered as favorable as any
', sites in these localities.

As before remarked, the project of the board of 1890 for
I the formation of a harbor at San Pedro proposes the con-
[ struction of two breakwaters covering an area east of Point
I Fermin from the southeast and southwest seas. An opening
[of 1,500 feet is left between them to afford an entrance to
[the harbor from the westward and to provide for the cir-
I culation of the littoral currents.

This plan is shown to be open to serious objections,
and the board recommends a different one :

90 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

The board recommends a single, curved breakwater, ex-
I tending southward and eastward from Point Fermin, sub-
|stantially as shown on the accompanying drawings, sub-
I ject to such modifications in detail, as experience during the
I progress of the work may show to be necessary or ex-
ipedient. Such a breakwater will present no salient angles
I to the attacks of the sea, no re-entrant angles to compress the
(moving wave, and it can be extended eastward should ti .
I necessities of commerce require it. Its length is 8,200 feet,
I being 200 feet more than the aggregate length of the two
I breakwaters proposed by the board of 1890. Should
I further investigation demonstrate the desirability of a west-
I ern opening, a result which the board does not anticipate,
' the plan can be modified accordingly.

Then begins the comparison of the various locations :

As a basis for the comparison of the relative advan-
|tages of the locations proposed in Santa Monica and San
I Pedro bays, the board invites attention to the following
I propositions, which were, briefly referred to in the begin-
\ ning of this report :

The harbor to be formed is not primarily a harbor of
I refuge, but a port of commerce. It should be located and
' designed with special reference to the requirements of deep-
i draft vessels engaged in foreign trade, because this trade
I promises to be of the greatest national importance in
I the future^ and because such vessels, after long
I voyages especially, need convenient and commodious
I places, for refitting and supply. The accommodation
[of the coasting trade is of secondary importance, but
1 it should receive due consideration. From a national point
I of view the capacity of the harbor for defense is a matter
I of the highest moment, since an indefensible commercial port
[ is simply an invitation to attack in time of war. We have
I now too many such ports, and it is not desirable to increase
I the number. Finally, the relative cost of harbor construc-
; tion and maintenance should be considered.

The questions, therefore, which require examination are
i as follows :

First — The comparative advantages of each location as
l a point of arriving and departure, especially for deep-draft
1 vessels engaged in the foreign trade.

Under this head we must consider the character of the
[approaches from the sea as regards facility of navigation

BASIS OF COMPARISON. 91

;with the prevailing winds, the safety from hidden danger,
I and the distance from commercial ports.

Second — The comparative advantages of each location as
i a place of shelter and for receiving and discharging freight.

Under this head we must consider the extent of anchor-
iage area and its exposure to wind and sea; the extent and
^helter of frontage for landing facilities; the capacity of
I the harbor for extension when required by the future de-
[mands of commerce; and the character of the holding
I ground.

Third — The comparative advantages of each location for
1 land communication with the commercial center.

Under this head we must consider the number of rail-
|road lines, the distance by rail, and the grades and curves
I on each line.

Fourth — The comparative adaptability of each location
' for harbor construction and maintenance.

Under this head we must consider the amount of natural
i shelter afforded by the position ; the suitability of the f oun-
idation for the breakwater; the comparative facility and
[cost of construction; the exposure to injuries requiring re-
J pair, and the probable permanence of the harbor as regards
I shoaling.

Fifth — The relative capacity of each location for defense.

On the first point, that of the comparative advantages
for arrival and departure, the board holds that there is no es-
sential difference between the locations of San Pedro and
Santa Monica.

On the subject of the advantages for shelter and for hand-
ling freight, the board says :

For the purposes of comparison, the anchorage areas for
I the Santa Monica harbors are assumed to be areas included
1 within the breakwaters, the lines drawn through their ends
[normal to the shore, and the 6- foot contour; and for the
; San Pedro Harbor the area included between the break-
I water, the line drawn from the end of the breakwater to
[Deadman's Island, and the 6-foot' contour. The deep-water
I anchorage is assumed to be an area over which there is a
J depth of at least 30 feet; the remaining area will be referred
I to as the inner anchorage.

The total anchorage area at the San Pedro harbor is 1187
S acres. This includes the area in Wilmington Harbor. The
' deep-water area is 339 acres and the inner anchorage area

92 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

j 846 acres. The harbor at Santa Monica village has a total
(anchorage of 1078 acres. The deep-water area is 602 acres
)and the inner anchorage 476 acres. The harbor above
I Santa Monica canyon has a total anchorage area of 994
) acres. The deep-water area is 479 acres and the inner an-
(chorage 515 acres. In the Santa Monica harbors the inner
I anchorage will be very much diminished by the wharves,
1 which must extend completely across it to reach deep water.
[This is not the case to the same extent in the San Pedro
1 Harbor.

To compare the exposures, it is assumed that so much of
5 the anchorage area as lies north of southeast and southwest
I lines drawn through the ends of the breakwaters is not fully
I covered by the heavy swells. The harbor at San Pedro has
j a protected area of 852 acres and an unprotected area of 335
I acres. The harbor at Santa Monica village has a protected
>area of 209 acres and an unprotected area of 869 acres.
I The harbdr above Santa Monica canyon has a protected
I area of 22 1 acres and an unprotected area of 773 acres.

The harbor above Santa Monica canyon, within the an-
Ichorage limits assumed, has a land frontage 8,000 feet in
) length, available for the construction of wharves. The har-
jbor at Santa Monica village has a similar land frontage
i 8,000 feet in length. In the harbor first mentioned, how-
|ever, the land approach to the wharves is narrow, and not
j capable of extension except at great expense, and there is no
j available place for the construction of interior basins. The
I conformation of the ground is such that free access to the
I landing facilities of the harbor would not be easily attainable
I by all parties engaged in the business of land transportation.

At Santa Monica village, on the other hand, the ap-
I proaches from the land are more open, and at La Ballona an
I interior basin could be readily formed. At San Pedro
) there is a land frontage of 4,300 feet in the outer harbor
1 without including the inner line of the breakwater. Since
I the breakwater is connected with the shore, a railway can be
[constructed along it, and wharves can be readily projected
; from its inner face. This advantage would be sacrificed
; if a western entrance were established. This gives for the
j puter harbor an additional frontage of 8,000 feet and a total
; frontage of 12,300 feet. The frontage of the inner harbor
I is about 4 miles long. The total frontage for the
1 whole harbor is therefore 33,420 feet, or about 6 1-3 miles.
[ The approaches are good, as they include both sides of the

ADVANTAGES OF SAN PEDRO. 93

1 harbor, and Wilmington harbor forms a magnificent in-
) terior basin.

In every harbor a portion of the area must be more or less
[exposed, owing to the necessity of providing convenient
I communication with the sea. In a port of commerce it is of
I great importance that the harbor should be so located and
I designed that the landing facilities should be established in
j the most sheltered part. In the Santa Monica harbors this
I imperative condition is entirely neglected, the landing f acil-
I ities being necessarily situated entirely within the exposed
I area. As a consequence of this, the wharves will not be
>well protected during storms, and small vessels will crowd
I the quiet spaces of the deep-water anchorage. At San
1 Pedro harbor the landing facilities are situated within the
1 unexposed area, and small vessels will find their best shel-
! ter in bad weather within the inner harbor.

The deep water anchorage area is amply sufficient in all the
\ harbors and can in all be readily extended in the future.
I In the San Pedro harbor the landing facilities can be
[ greatly extended within the inner harbor without any addi-
jtion to the outer breakwater. This is not the case in the
! Santa Monica harbors.

In all the harbors the holding ground is good. Some
• doubts have been expressed with regard to the character of
I the holding ground at San Pedro, but after diligent in-
I quiry the board is satisfied that it is as good in this location
! as in the others.

The board is of the opinion that the location at San Pedro
I is decidedly the best, considered as a place of shelter and
' for receiving and discharging freight.

The question of the distance from Los Angeles is declared
to be unimportant, by reason of the insignificant difference
between the two locations.

On the question of construction, the board after discus-
sing it in all its details, holds that :

The amount of stone required for the construction of the
1 breakwater proposed for San Pedro would be much less
I than for either of the breakwaters proposed for Santa Mon-
I ica bay, the area of the profile along the axis of the break-
water at San Pedro being 322,000 square feet and at Santa
; Monica canyon 351,700 square feet.

The latter breakwater has less volume than the one at
Santa Monica village.

94 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

In concluding the topic, the board says :

In connection with this question of the relative cost of
; maintenance, it should be remarked that the harbor at Wil-
; mington has been established for many years and improved
; at great expense by the government. It will not, in any
; event, be abandoned. If, then, another harbor is con-
' structed in this vicinity, the government will be compelled
I to light, defend, improve, , and maintain two harbors where
I one would answer the purpose.

The board is of the opinion that the location at San Pedro
I is decidedly the best as regards adaptability for construction
'and maintenance.

The report does not go into details on the subject of de-
fense, but merely declares that "after careful consideration,
it is of the opinion that the location at San Pedro is best
and cheapest as regards capacity for defense."

It finally sums up the case in these words :

Having made a careful and critical examination for a pro-
i posed deep-water harbor at San Pedro or Santa Monica
I bays, as required by law, the board is unanimously of opin-
I ion that the location selected by the Board of Engineers of

1890, at the present anchorage at the westerly side of San
I Pedro bay under Point Fermin, is the "more eligible loca-
I tion for such harbor in depth, width, and capacity to accom-
Imodate the largest ocean-going vessels and the commercial
'and naval necessities of the country."

The board's estimate of the cost of constructing the San

Pedro breakwater was as follows :

Substructure— 1,434,612 cubic yards, at $1.50 $2,151,918

Superstructure— 178,530 cubic yards, at $2 357, 060

Contingencies, 15 percent 376,346

Total $2,885,324

I,ONG BEACH ON SAN PEDRO BA.Y.

CHAPTER X.
A Decision That Did Not Decide.

THE report of the Craighill Board was published in Los
Angeles just before the beginning of 1893, and for a
brief time it stopped all discussion of the subject of the har-
bor location. The Santa Monica people declared that a mis-
take had been made and that the government would some
day rue it, but the mischief was done and could not be helped;

• CHARLES FORMAN.

the Redondo people said that they would abide by the de-
cision, and would join with Los Angeles to present a united
front for San Pedro; the Southern Pacific people said
nothing.

The Los Angeles Chamber, believing that the time for
neutrality was now at an end, on January 17th appointed
Gen. Chas. Forman, as special delegate to Washington. He

96 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEttT.

proceeded immediately to the capital, accompanied by Mr.
Gibbon. In order to show that the sentiment of the south-
western community was generally in favor of the develop-
ment of a deep-sea harbor near Los Angeles, in accordance
with the plan of the engineers, the delegates were armed with
numerous petitions of business men of all sections of South-
ern California, Arizona and New Mexico, and with resolu-
tions from the Redlands and Riverside town trustees, from
the Boards of Trade of Pasadena, Pomona and San Pedro,
from the Supervisors of San Bernardino County and from
the State Board of Trade. They were followed presently
by joint resolutions from the California Legislature, from
the Galveston Chamber of Commerce,* and from various
commercial organizations in the Southwestern Territories.
There was no regular River and Harbor bill this year, it
being the short session, and the Chamber's rqjresentatives
were assured that there was no hope of an appropriation for
San Pedro. Nevertheless they proceeded to make the most
of their opportunity to accomplish some missionary work.
Senator Felton introduced a bill for a direct appropriation
of $250,000, to begin work at San Pedro in accordance with
the project outlined by the Craighill Board, but the measure
never made its way out of the Senate Committee on Com-
merce, of which Mr. Frye was the chairman. Gen. For-
man and Mr. Gibbon were given a hearing before this com-
mittee. In his report to the chamber, filed March 10,
1893, Gen. Forman says relative to this hearing: "As to
the question of location, I explained that, to the people of the
Southwest generally, it had heretofore been a matter of no
consequence where the harbor was built, whether at Santa
Monica, Redondo or San Pedro — their desire being that
it should be built somewhere, as soon as possible. The
general government having now given the matter a thorough
investigation, through two separate boards of engineers,
who had reported unanimously in favor of San Pedro as the
most available point at which to locate the harbor, there was
no longer any opportunity for choice left to our people, and

* Agitation was in progress at this time to secure an appropiiation of
about four million dollars to construct a deep-water harbor at Galveston
— an improvement which is now well under way.

GENEI^AL FORM AN 'S REPORT. 97

for that reason we had all combined to urge the claims of
the selected port."

Senator John P. Jones of Nevada, whose real and un-
official home is in Santa Monica, was a member of the Sen-
ate Committee on Commerce, and he is the owner of a great
deal of land along the water front of that city and about
Port Los Angeles, the location of the wharf. His vote and
influence were always thrown in favor of the Santa Monica
harbor site. He asked Senator Frye that the matter of an
appropriation for harbor improvement near Los Angeles
should not be considered in his absence from Washington,
and this, through the operation of "Senatorial courtesy,"
prevented any action in the winter of 1893. The statement
which was offered at the beginning of the session that no ap-
propriations for river and harbor purposes, except those of
a most urgent character, were to be made, was scarcely
borne out by the record, which shows that over $22,000,000
was appropriated that year, although $40,000,000 of con-
tinuing contracts were outstanding. But San Pedro was
not seriously considered by the committee.

In concluding his report to the chamber. Gen. Forman in-
veighs strongly against any reopening of the location issue,
which will, he says, have the effect of upsetting the good
work done thus far. "Such a thing," he says, "as Congress
appropriating money for the construction of works contrary
to the advice of its engineers, would be against all prece-
dents and in the highest degree improbable. As the case
now stands with the nation's representatives at Washington,
it is San Pedro or nothing. Agitation in favor of any other
point would merely result in postponing indefinitely any im-
provement whatever."

These expressions were evidently called forth by the fact
that attempts were even then under way to take up anew
the question of where the harbor should be situated, in
spite of the "once for all" settlement by the Craighill Board.
Such was indeed the case. The work on the long wharf at
Santa Monica was being pushed with vigor, and it began to
dawn on the merchants of Los Angeles that the Southern
Pacific was undertaking a great plan there, which would
have a decided bearing on the future commerce of the sec-
tion. Freight coming to Los Angeles from San Francisco

98 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

saved half a day's time coming by Santa Monica, as against
San Pedro, and the new wharf was a convenient and valua-
ble improvement. The members of the Chamber of Com-
merce were invited -from time to time by the Southern Pa-
cific to go down and visit the work, and a free train was pro-
vided for that purpose. On such occasions, the representa-
tives of the road and the Santa Monica people and others
expressed great regret that the government had decided in
favor of San Pedro, a place which would be of no practical
use for the commerce of Los Angeles, instead of Port Los
Angeles, the natural location.

In February of 1893, at the very time that Gen. For-
man was wrestling with the Commerce Committee of the
Senate, the annual banquet of the Chamber of Commerce
was held at Redondo, at which the topic of the wharf was
discussed, and the policy of the Southern Pacific fore-
shadowed to some extent by one of its officers.

At this banquet Mr. H. E. Huntington, who is the nephew
of Mr. C. P. Huntington, and who was at that time the
acting president of the road, was asked to respond to the
toast, "The Commerce of the Pacific," and it was inti-
mated to him by the committee that they would be glad
if he would tell something of the plans of the road with
regard to the new wharf. Mr. Huntington was ill and
unable to be present, and Mr. W. H. Mills, the Vice-Presi-
dent of the company, and one of its directors, was asked
to speak on that topic in his place. Mr. Mills is one of
the best speakers in California, eloquent, witty and pro-
found, and he possesses to a remarkable degree the faculty
of making the dry topic of commerce, on which he is fre-
quently called to speak, one of vivid interest.

After explaining the absence of Mr. Huntington, which
was due to illness, Mr. Mills said :

Mr. Huntington instructed me to say to you that whatever
I plans you may have for the commercial and industrial de-
Ivelopment of this part of the State, you have the hearty
I sympathy and shall have the co-operation of the Southern
1 Pacific Company. However, regarding this wharf and
[other improvements to which reference has been made, I
I must tell you that I am not authorized by Mr. Huntington
>to disclose any of the secrets of the company.

MR. MIIvLS' SUGGESTION. 99

As an industrial student of this State, I have always
[observed that the shortest line of connection between tide
[water on the Atlantic and tide water on the Pacific was
I at some point -near l^os Angeles. We know, now that
I railway communication has been established, that the
I nearest line is between Los Angeles and Galveston. But
I commerce will not go to Galveston, because it is a law
I of railroad transportation that every thing must reach its
j terminal. When a car is loaded and sent on its journey, it
I must go to its terminal point for its return freight; and
I therefore. New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi
I river, the Queen City of the South, will be the Atlantic
[seaport, which will have for its western terminus Santa
I Monica.

I wish to say that I had no desire to broach this subject at
[ this time, and I do not speak of it to raise any local question
! as between San Pedro, Santa Monica and Redondo or any
[other of the local seaports. There will come a time when
Jail these questions will be forgotten. California is a new
[country, and we have more or less contention in the early
[stages of our development. But somewhere on your bor-
' ders there is to be a harbor, and as I am asked a questioh re-
igarding Santa Monica, and the intentions of our people,
I to be frank with you I will say that their intentions seem
>to me to be entirely apparent. They are making a wharf
) there for deep-water vessels. They must intend to land
[at the wharf with deep-water vessels.

These pointed allusions to Santa Monica, as the natural
harbor for trans-Pacific commerce, did not pass unnoticed,
and it was only a short time after this that the Los Angeles
Times, a Republican morning paper of general circulation
throughout Southern California, raised the question editor-
ially whether the Southern Pacific peoplfe proposed to abide
by the decision of the engineering authorities, whom they
had invoked, of their own desire, to render a final judg-
ment. The Times had never been regarded as an anti-
corporation or anti-Southern Pacific newspaper. Its ed-
itor and chief proprietor, Colonel Harrison Gray Otis,*
is decidedly conservative in his point of view, and what-
ever else may be said of him, he certainly possesses

* His present title is Brigadier General Otis, which was bestowed on
him during the late Spanish war. Dnring the period of this history,
however, he was " Colonel " Otis and he will be so styled.

lOO

THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

none of the "sand lot," radical element in his make-up.
His efforts to place the employees of his establishment on
a non-union basis had involved him in a serious conflict
with labor organizations, which was raging with great fierce-
ness at this particular time; and the agitators and walking
delegates, who were, to a considerable extent, the active spirits
of the anti-railway propaganda, were proclaiming against
Col. Otis and his paper all over the State. There was reason
enough why he should prefer an alliance with the railroad

BRIG. GEN. H. G. OTIS.

rather than opposition to it, had that been possible. The fact
that he was one of the first to see into and through the rail-
road plan, and that he threw the influence of the Times with
all the force at its command into the anti-railroad side of the
fight, is evidence at once of his discernment and his sincerity.
The opening gun of the Times' battery was an editorial
appearing in the spring of 1893, which was the handiwork
of W. A. Spalding, the present managing editor of the Los
Angeles Herald, at that time an editorial writer on and a
stockholder in the Times. In this article the lines of policy
for the paper were very clearly drawn, and they were con-
sistently adhered to through the five years of conflict that

THB ATTITUDE OF THE "TIMES." loi

followed, in all the curves and sinuosities and twistings and
changes of front that such a fight could present. The re-
cent Board of Engineers, said the article, in substance, have
settled upon San Pedro as the location for the harbor, con-
firming the judgment of the former board. We have thus
a unanimous decision from eight distinguished authorities,
based on technical grounds, in favor of that site. It is the
invariable custom of Congress to grant appropriations in ac-

W. A. SPAtDlNG.

cordance with the findings of its own engineers. It is
therefore idle to discuss the question of the possibility of
securing help for another site than San Pedro. The South-
ern Pacific people are disposed to favor Port Los Angeles,
where they are constructing a wharf. Their enterprise in
developing commerce through a new port is commendable
and will elicit such patronage as it merits ; but that is not the
real point at issue. The influence of the Southern Pa-
cific at Washington may be great — perhaps greater
than it should be — but it cannot reach to the ex-
tent of upsetting all the established precedents that govern

I02 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

harbor appropriations, and even if it were so powerful, it
would still be the plain duty of the people of this section
and their representatives to oppose a scheme to use govern-
ment funds against the advice of its technical authorities, for
the special use and benefit of a single corporation.

It would perhaps scarcely do justice to the Times and its
influence in the harbor contest merely to say that the vic-
tory for the people's choice could not have been won with-
out it, for the same may be said of several other agencies
and individuals, and the fight was full of critical turnings,
where if some one had neglected to do just the right thing
at the right time, failure must have resulted. No news-
paper can be said to control public opinion, but a journal
whose circulation permeates every class of society, which
is edited with honest purpose and good ability, and which
persistently maintains a policy in favor of an object which
the best impulses of men feel to be right — even if it is for
the moment unpopular — can exercise an influence so power-
ful as to be almost dominating. These various qualifica-
ions the Times possessed. While it is not free from faults,
and is, indeed, greatly criticized — as every powerful news-
paper must be — for certain characteristics that it possesses,
no one will deny that it is a first-class purveyor of news and
that it is managed with ability and — taking a long range
view of it^with good judgment. Being human, it has
made mistakes, without doubt, but its record in that respect
is unusually clear. While its circulation is small compared
with that of the great newspapers of the great cities, it is
large compared with the circulations that prevail on the
Pacific coast, and extraordinary when the population of its
tributary district is reckoned. In one respect it is to be
classed with papers like the Louisville Courier- Journal, the
old New York Tribune and Sun, the' Chicago Tribune, the
St. Louis Globe-Democrat and the Cincinnati Commercial;
it is an organ of direct individual, personal influence. The
Times is Harrison Gray Otis, and conversely it may be
stated — and it forms a handsome object lesson of success —
that for a long period of years Harrison Gray Otis was the
Times and nothing but the Times.

But if the power and influence of this newspaper was
absolutely necessary to the winning of the people's victory

COURAGE AND FORESIGHT. 103

in the harbor controversy, it is only fair to say that the
controversy itself formed one of the chief corner-stones of
the Times' great financial and journalistic success. Before
the fight began, the circulation of the Times was but little, if
any, more than that of any one of the three other com-
petitors with which it shared the daily field in Los An-
geles. During the critical phases of the contest, subscrib-
ers flocked to it by the score and the hundred. At the close
of the era with which this book has to deal, its circulation
was more than that of all its competitors gathered together.
And its clientele is not of the ephemeral order that may be
hastily rolled up by the cheap sensationalism of the moment,
but it is a patronage that is based for the most part on re-
spect for its abilities and confidence in its sincerity. The
Times subscriber, while he may speak with regret of certain
faults that he finds in it, will, if he is a resident of Los An-
geles of ten years' standing, always close with the remark,
"But it made a magnificent fight for the harbor."

It is always an open question how much credit a news-
paper deserves for the espousal of a popular cause, as
against one to which the people are unfriendly; and if that
were all there was to the Times' support of San Pedro, it
might be dismissed with a word. But it must be remem-
bered that the Times alone, of all the newspapers of Los An-
geles, saw fit to take that side of the controversy; and there
were powerful business influences, of the order by which
newspapers are commonly swayed, that pulled in the oppo-
site direction. Nor was it evident at the outset which was
to be the popular side; and there occurred various crises in
the midst of the contest when the pendulum of popular
favor swung far to the other pole, and the very foundation
seemed about to drop out from under the Free Harbor cause.
For its courage and its firmness and consistency at such mo-
ments, the Times is entitled to credit and admiration; and
for this it will receive praise, even from those who fail to
approve its course in other respects.

The election of the fall of 1892 had an important bear-
ing on the harbor issue. The effect of the general land-
slide in the direction of Democracy was felt even as far
west as California, which gave its electoral vote to Mr.
Cleveland, and sent several Democratic or Fusion Congress-

I04 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

men to Washington from the State, and elected a Demo-
cratic Legislature. In the Sixth Congressional district,
which at that time included all the Southern and Central
section of the State, Hervey Lindley, a Republican of
Los Angeles, was defeated by Marion Cannon, a Populist
of Ventura, the latter receiving the Democratic vote and
also the votes of many Republicans who considered that
Mr. Lindley was on altogether too friendly terms with the
railroad and its machine.

The Democratic Legislature met in January of 1893 and
elected Stephen M. White of Los Angeles to the Senate,
the man who was to win the San Pedro appropriation after
one of the most extraordinary battles ever fought in the
halls of Congress.

CHAPTER XL
The Chamber of Commerce Takes a Vote.

THE time was now at hand in Los Angeles when the lines
were to be drawn between those who favored the
railroad choice for a harbor site and those who proposed to
abide by the decisions of the engineer boards. The issue
was becoming a live one, that could not be evaded. Every-
body deplored the existence of the controversy, but each side
laid the blame for it upon the other. The Santa Monica
partisans denounced their opponents for "fighting the rail-
road" and alienating thereby a powerful friend, that could
either get us the appropriation or keep it eternally out of
our reach. On the other hand, the San Pedro element
sneered at the "railway crowd," as they were disposed un-
justly to call those on the other side, and reiterated the ques-
tion : how was it proposed to get an appropriation for a spot
that had been unanimously damned by two different boards
of engineers.

The contest was at first good-natured enough, but, as was
inevitable where such considerable interests were at stake,
rancor soon crept in. With the Herald and Express support-
ing the Santa Monica site, against the Times, which favored
San Pedro, the hurling of epithets was not long to be de-

THE CONTESTANTS LINE UP. 105

ferred. There were cautious and conservative men on both
sides, who constantly expressed the fear that the division
might terminate in putting off all appropriations for an
indefinite period; but the majority of these presently found
themselves drawn into the whirl of the combat, and decided
that the only way to secure peace was to fight for it. There
were also not a few cheerful souls who managed to hold
seats in both factions, and some who professed to be strictly
"on the fence." But the great majority of the people of
Los Angeles found permanent location on one side or the
other, and this was especially true of those who held po-
litical positions and those who were prominent in public
work.

By the beginning of 1894, the long wharf at Santa Mon-
ica was about completed, and was thrown open for public
use. The enterprise of the railroad was widely commended,
and the people of Los Angeles, especially the merchants who
would have occasion to ship over the wharf, expressed great
gratification at the substantial and useful improvement. A
considerable tide of business that had formerly flowed into
Los Angeles by way of San Pedro, and later by way of Re-
dondo, was now suddenly transferred to the more northerly
port.

Mr. C. P. Huntington was much pleased with the favor-
able outlook for his new venture, and when the work was
completed, he paid it a visit of inspection. While in Los
Angeles, he called at the rooms of the Chamber of Com-
merce, and asked for a conference with some of its officers
on the subject of local harbor improvements. The Presi-
dent, Mr. D. Freeman, and Gen. Chas. Forman, one of the
vice-presidents, were summoned by telephone, and there
were present besides those gentlemen and Mr. Huntington,
the Secretary of the Chamber, and the Southern Pacific
local agent, Mr. Crawley. The conversation lasted about
an hour. Mr. Huntington did a large part of the talking,
for the representatives of the Chamber, knowing that the
Southern Pacific president was absolutely determined upon
a Santa Monica policy, and that the interests of his corpora-
tion were considerably involved, forebore to discuss the
issue beyond what was required for politeness' sake.

"You people are makii;ig a big mistake in supporting this

io6 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

San Pedro appropriation," said he. "The River and Har-
bor Committee of the House will never report in favor of
that place — not in a thousand years. I know them all, and
have talked with them about this matter. The same is true
of the Senate Committee on Commerce. The chairman of
that committee. Senator Frye, has visited both harbors and
he says he will never consent to the expenditure of one dollar
for an outside harbor at San Pedro. He thinks it cannot
be built, and his mind will not change, no matter how many
reports you may get to the contrary. And you know the
chairman of that committee is all-powerful in the matter of
appropriations."

"But will Congress appropriate money for an improve-
ment against the advice of its engineers?" was asked.

"It has done so on numberless occasions,"* answered Mr.
Huntington. "Besides, the engineers have not reported
against Santa Monica. They have simply declared that the
San Pedro work is somewhat cheaper than the other, and
the difference is so small that I would sooner pay it out of
my own pocket than have such a mistake made in location as
would occur if the harbor were to be built at San Pedro .t
Congress is all-powerful in the matter of appropriations,
and can do as it sees fit. It can appoint a board with in-
structions to find in favor of Santa Monica, if it chooses to
do so."

"Now, I propose to be frank with you people," continued
the Southern Pacific president, "I do not find it to my ad-
vantage to have this harbor built at San Pedro, and I shall be

* This statement, which was frequently made by the Santa Monica ad-
herents, had but slight basis in fact. It is true that the Government
engineers had advised against the experiment of the Bads jetties, and
that Congress went ahead in spite of that advice ; but the case is scarcely
parallel with that of the harbor controversy. The position taken by the
engineers in the matter of the Eads jetties was that the experiment
would probably not succeed ; but the States along the lower Mississippi
demanded, in their desperation that something be done, and the jetties
were finally constructed, according to the plans of private engineers. No
other examples of any importance were ever quoted.

t If the reader will examine the report of the Craigill Board, Chapter
IX, he will find that cost is only one of a number of counts in the indict-
ment against Santa Monica.

SOME VERY PLAIN TALK. 107

compelled to oppose all efforts that you or others make to
secure appropriations for that site; on the other hand, the
Santa Monica location will suit me perfectly, and if you
folks will get in and work for that, you will find me on your
side — and I think I have some little influence at Washing-
ton — as much as some other people, perhaps."

Mr. Huntington then proceeded to tell of his plans with
reference to trans-Pacific commerce over the Santa Monica
wharf, covering much the same line as the banquet speech
of W. H. Mills a year before. The Chamber's representa-
tives were much interested, and asked a number of ques-
tions on this topic; but on the harbor issue they were dumb,
and even Mr. Huntington's direct inquiries failed to bring
satisfactory answers.

At the very conclusion of the interview, Mr. Huntington
showed for the first time his decided animus in the matter.
He brought down his fist with some force on the desk where
he sat, and said : "Well, I don't know, for sure, that I can
get this money for Santa Monica; I think I can. But I
know damned well that you shall never get a cent for that
other place."

He rose to his feet, his face a little flushed with annoy-
ance or anger, but a moment later was smiling pleasantly,
as he proposed that the Chamber's Board of Directors go
down to Santa Monica the next day in his private car, and
inspect the wharf.

The invitation was accepted, and about a dozen members
of the Board went in the party the following day. They
visited the wharf, and then repaired to the Arcadia Hotel,
where some wine was served, and where Mr. Huntington
proved a most agreeable host.

No publication was made of this conference at the time,
and very little was ever said about it, as those who were
present, representing the chamber, were anxious to avoid
rousing any ill-will on the harbor subject, and it was feared
that Mr. Huntington's threat, if it became generally known,
might increase the growing bitterness.

In the month of September, 1892, about the time of the
meeting of the Craighill Board, Mr. J. M. Crawley, the
Southern Pacific local representative, prepared a petition
asking that the deep-sea harbor appropriation, if one should

io8 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

be allotted to this section, should go to Santa Monica, in-
stead of San Pedro, and he secured to this document the sig-
natures of eighty-three of the leading merchants of Los
Angeles, particularly those engaged in wholesale trade and
importing, and the signatures represented business capital
amounting to over ten million dollars.

The names were carefully selected and the list very nearly
covered the field. Mr. Crawley afterwards declared that
only a few who were approached refused to sign it, and that
all the others signed cheerfully and without discussion.
This list was frequently referred to thereafter by the rail-
road to demonstrate that, whatever the popular sentiment
might be on the subject of the harbor, the mercantile influ-
ence was in favor of Santa Monica. Against this it was
urged that many of the merchants felt themselves compelled
to sign the petition to continue friendly relations with the
road, and that others signed it under a misapprehension,
supposing that it was merely a request to the government
to "do something for Santa Monica." But whatever value
the petition may have had as showing the status of public
opinion prior to the decision of the Craighill Board, it was
certainly inoperative after that decision had been rendered.

On the 7th day of March, 1894, eighteen months after the
names had been gathered, Mr. Crawley appeared before the
Directors of the Chamber of Commerce, and presented this
petition, and asked that action be taken in accordance
with it.

"The gentlemen who sign this document," said Mr. Craw-
ley addressing the board, "are all active members of your
organization, and their names are fairly representative of
the mercantile element of the community. I am informed
that your organization is about to adopt some resolutions on
the question of the harbor site, and is considering the ad-
visability of sending a special delegate to Washington to
represent the commercial interests of this section. Now I
ask, as a member of this organization, and as representing
a corporation which is largely interested in the welfare of
Southern California, that you act as this petition suggests,
and resolve in favor of appropriations for Santa Monica.

Consideration of Mr. Crawley's request was deferred
until the next meeting of the board, which took place March

THE DEBATE IN THE BOARD. 109

14th, and at this a lively discussion began, which was pro-
tracted by one parliamentary device or another from meet-
ing to meeting for nearly a month. At the outset, there
seemed to be no reason to doubt that the board would be
for San Pedro by a good working majority. Less than a
year previous, this same body had, by a unanimous vote,
passed a resolution strongly in favor of the site selected by
the engineers, and had sent Gen. Forman to Washington to
present that side of the case. To follow Mr. Crawley's sug-
gestion involved a complete and rather humiliating change
of front. Kaspare Cohn, a large shipper of wool, and a man
of high standing in the community, offered the resolutions
in favor of Santa Monica. They read as follows :

Whereas, By reason of the close proximity of Santa Mon-
I ica to Los Angeles, and the rapid and continuous growth of
j the city of Los Angeles toward Santa Monica, unmistaka-
jble evidence to all that in time the western boundary of
I the city of Los Angeles will be the ocean front at Santa
I Monica; and

Whereas, The greater distance and the topography of the
I country between Los Angeles and San Pedro are barriers
I to the growth of the City of Los Angeles in the direction of
I San Pedro ; and

Whereas, There is now built at Santa Monica a wharf
14660 feet in length, reaching to a point where there is 40
1 feet of water at high tide, thus bringing ships of the deepest
I draft and cars together; and

Whereas, It is desirable that the freight intended for Los
J Angeles and this section of the State, which is loaded in
1 vessels at ports on the Atlantic Coast, at Panama, and ports
I in Mexico, and which now passes Santa Monica and is taken
' to San Francisco and again shipped to Los Angeles, and this
I part of the State, thereby increasing the cost of such freight,
'that it should be unloaded from vessels at the nearest point
J to Los Angeles; and

Whereas, Eighty-three of the merchants of Los Angeles,
i representing about ten million dollars of capital, fully real-
I izing the situation, and viewing it from a commercial stand-
I point, have subscribed to a petition, copy of which accom-
1 panics this resolution, urging that Santa Monica be selected
[as the proper place where a breakwater should be con-
Jstructed; now, therefore, be it

no THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

Resolved : That the Chamber of Commerce, representing
I as it does, the commercial interests of the city of Los Angeles,
I do make known to our Senators and Representatives at
I Washington that for the reasons set forth above we believe
1 the construction of a breakwater and the creation of a har-
I bor at Santa Monica will best serve our commercial interests,
; and that such action will receive the strong support of the
I people; and we do hereby pray Congress that an appropria-
I tion be made for that purpose, independent of any appropria-
|tion which may be needed to maintain in good condition
I what is known as the inner harbor of San Pedro and Wil-
' mington.

Mr. L. N. Breed, a banker, offered a compromise resolu-
tion in line with the plan which two years later came to be
known as the "double appropriation scheme." It asked
that money be appropriated to construct a deep-water har-
bor at Santa Monica, and also to dredge out and improve
the inner harbor at San Pedro.

Mr. W. C. Patterson, a wholesale produce merchant, who
afterwards became president of the Chamber, and who was
to the end a most effective worker in the Free Harbor cause,
proposed the following:

Whereas, the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Com-
jmerce is in receipt of a petition from Mr. J. M. Crawley
j of the Southern Pacific Company, asking that we call upon
I our representatives at Washington to favor an appropriation
I for Santa Monica instead of San Pedro, and

Whereas, Three separate commissions of United States
I Engineers, appointed to examine the coast and decide upon
i a proper location for a deep-water harbor in this vicinity have
* unanimously declared in favor of San Pedro, and

Whereas, It is the invariable custom of Congress in cases
I of this character to refuse all appropriations that are not in
' accordance with the decisions of its engineers ; therefore be
'it

Resolved, That in the opinion of this Board of Directors
I an appeal to our representatives to support an appropriation
I for Santa Monica would, under the most favorable circum-
I stances, result only in the appointment of a fourth commis-
I sion who would probably make the same report as their pre-
I decessors.

Resolved, That we see at the present time no cause to at-
J tempt to reverse the action invariably taken by this board

A DRAWN BATTLE m

jand by the members of the chamber when called together
I to consider this question, and that we now again place our-
I selves on record as favoring an appropriation to begin the
I work on the outer harbor at San Pedro.

Resolved, That we call upon the people and press and pub-
I lie organizations of Los Angeles and Southern California to
' stand firmly together on this proposition, and not allow
I themselves to be confused or divided by the claim that the
I influence of any individual or corporation can prevail against
I the repeated and emphatic reports of the government engin-
I eers, and that we warn our people that agitation in favor of
I any other place than the one recommended by the engineers
1 is destined to result only in delaying still further the con-
' struction of the needed harbor.

The sessions of the board were supposed to be executive,
but a reporter of the Express managed to smuggle himself
into the room as an' assistant clerk, and remained there
through the whole of the session. The next day the mem-
bers of the Chamber became aware, through the publication
of the debate, that the board was anything but unanimous
on the subject of the harbor site, and the discussion was
taken up in earnest all over the city. Henry T. Hazard,
who was at that time Mayor of the city, led the debate in
the board on the San Pedro side, seconded by Mr. Patterson
and Gen. Forman; and the principal Santa Monica advocates
were Mr. James B. Lankershim and Mr. Breed.

On three different occasions when the matter was about
to come to a vote, an adjournment was secured. In the
course of the long debate, Santa Monica gained and San
Pedro lost. At first it was the Santa Monica men that dared
not come to a vote, but in the end the conditions were re-
versed, and it was clear that if a decision was reached in
the board, it must be against the site selected by the en-
gineers.

Had the vote been won for Santa Monica, it would have
supplied the partisans of that side with what was their most
serious lack through the whole of the contest, viz., an au-
thoritative public expression in favor of their site. It might
also have served permanently to divide public sentiment,
which would have made the victory that much the more
difficult of winning. The Chamber of Commerce, having
thus reversed its position, would have lost its standing with

112 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

the people of Los Angeles, and if it had not actually gone to
pieces under the strain, it would at least have been seriously
crippled, and incapacitated from giving the help 'in the con-
test that was afterwards so much needed. In short, this -was
a critical moment in the battle, and all who were concerned
felt it to be so at the time.

There was a provision in the constitution of the Chamber,
which had never before been put into use, whereby, if the

W. C. PATTERSON.

members were dissatisfied with the action of the board in
any matter, a petition to the president, signed by the requi-
site number of names, would compel the calling of a general
meeting, at which all could vote. When it became evident
that, if the board took action — and it could not well be
longer postponed — the result would be a change of front for
the Chamber, Gen. Edward Bouton started a petition

THE BAIvLOT OF THE MEMBERS.

"3

'addressed to President Freeman, asking that a vote be taken
by ballot among the members of the Chamber, as to whether
that organization was to advocate one site or the other.

The membership of the chamber at that time was about
550. The date fixed by the president for the ballot was less
than a week away, and during that short period a very lively
campaign was waged. The Times published each day a
series of strong editorial leaders, some of which were written

H. Z ObBORNE.

by Col. Otis himself, and others by Mr. Spalding, but the
greater number by Harry Ellington Brook, who for the past
twelve years has been an editorial writer on the Times, and
whose devotion to the San Pedro cause had much to do with
the efficiency of that paper's service. The Express, under
the management of Col. H. Z. Osborne, and the Herald,
under the management of Messrs. J. J. Ayers and J. D.
Lynch, espoused the Santa Monica cause with considerable
force and skill.

The Terminal Railway took an active hand in the fight,
and issued a printed pamphlet which contained the full report
of the Craighill Board in favor of San Pedro. The Santa
Fe, which had up to this time stood aloof, was now drawn

114 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

into the conflict, and from this time on its influence was
thrown in favor of the San Pedro cause. Every mail
brought showers of circulars and letters to the members of
the Chamber; there were excursions to Santa Monica and
San Pedro, and doubtful voters were kept busy dodging
the campaign committees of one side or the other.

The ballot was held April 7, 1894, and lasted from nine
in the morning until five in the afternoon. It was con-
ducted on the Australian system ; each voter went to a table
by himself and stamped his ballot with a rubber stamp "For
San Pedro" or "For Santa Monica." Members of the
board served as tellers, equally divided between the two fac-
tions. A considerable amount of feeling was shown to exist
by the utterances of many who came to vote, although the
principals to the affair, particularly the railway men, re-
mained good-natured.

When the ballots were counted, it was found that 464 had
been cast, of which 5 were scattering and the others were
divided as follows :

San Pedro 328

Santa Monica 131

Public sentiment of Los Angeles, as evidenced by the vote
of its recognized commercial representative, was for the
ancient port by a majority of morg than two to one.

CHAPTER XII.
The Winter of Our Discontent.

THE vote in the Chamber of Commerce was regarded as
another "final settlement" of the harbor issue, as far as
a division among the people of Los Angeles was concerned.
A number of citizens who had supported the Santa Monica
site, finding by this fair test of public sentiment that the great
majority of the active men of the city preferred San Pedro,
decided to go in with the majority, and thereafter became
enthusiastic workers on the side against the railroad. .

"It is evident," said they, "if we are to win any harbor
appropriation, that all must pull together for one place.

THE SESSION OF 1894.

"5

A vote has been taken, and the majority is for San Pedro.
In the face of that .vote, we cannot ask the others to come
to our way of thinking; we must, therefore, go over to
theirs."

By a unanimous vote the Directors of the Chamber now
passed the Patterson resolutions, supplemented with a state-
ment of the ballot of the members of the organization. It
was decided to send as a special delegate to Washington Col.
S. O. Houghton, who had secured the first appropriation for

GEORGE S. PATTON.

San Pedro twenty-five years before. When the time came
for his departure, Col. Houghton found himself unable to
go, and Geo. S. Patton, a bright young man of Southern
origin, eloquent as a speaker and well-informed on the
harbor topic, was chosen in his place.

This was, it will be remembered, the long session of the
first congress of the Cleveland administration, the session
when the fight over the Wilson tariff bill was carried dear
through the summer. Both House and Senate were Demo-
cratic, and Mr. Frye was compelled to give up the chairman-

ii6 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

ship of the Committee on Commerce to Ransom of North
Carohna.

Mr. Gibbon was present at the beginning of the session,
early in 1894, but had been recalled to Los Angeles when
the division occurred in the Chamber of Commerce. After
the vote was taken, with a favorable result which his efforts
had in no small degree assisted to bring about, he returned
to Washington, accompanied by Mr. Patton.

Owing to the presence of Mr. White on the Senate Com-
mittee on Commerce, it was decided to make the effort to
get a San Pedro item into the River and Harbor bill by
amendment in the Senate. It was a most unusual thing for
a new Senator, one who had not even seen service in the
lower house, to receive a place on that important committee,
but Mr. White's eminence in the party, and the great repu-
tation for ability and industry which he had brought with
him from California, made his appointment to that position
possible.

Mr. White is a fearless and a determined character, and,
when he believes in any cause, is open and aggressive in
fighting its battles. Now that the six years of his service
in Congress are at an end, and may be regarded in their en-
tirety, one may pause in v.onder and admiration over the
unique career that they represent. It is not merely that Mr.
White is an orator of exceptional power and force, nor
that he is a lawyer of profound reasoning power and broad
range of judgment, nor that he understands men and can
influence and control their actions — all these things might
be true of him, and yet he would not be the man we know
now as Stephen M. White. It is his sincerity and his cour-
age that would remain as the distinguishing marks of his
public career, even if all else were to be forgotten. At a
time when the people of this country were resolved, by a
majority so great as to be literally overwhelming, that war
should be declared against Spain, when even the warning
note from the President that the nation was not prepared for
the contest failed to hold the tide in check, and when the
only ground for discussion in Congress was not whether
nor why we should declare war, but merely how and when,
there was one man, and we may almost say only one, who
rose to urge with all the force of logic and eloquence at his

WHITE IN THE SENATE.

117

command, that the country pause before it should undertake
a war which he regarded as at once causeless and full of
danger. It is not a question now of whether he was right
or wrong in his judgment and his premonitions; he had
not the favor of the galleries, for the report says they listened
in absolute silence though with the closest attention; he had

SENATOR STEPHEN M. WHITE.

not the support of his fellow Senators, for on every amend-
ment and on the main issue the vote went heavily against
him ; but it was the calmness and deliberation of the speech,
its broad, statesman-like view and the splendid courage and
honesty of the speaker, that challenged admiration then, a&
they do now.

The people of Los Angeles are perhaps too near to Mr.
White to be able to form a correct judgment of his character.
Many of them have oscillated between an unbounded ad-
miration at one time and a disposition to criticise at another.
When he entered the Senate, great things were expected

ii8 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

of him — ^things which were finally realized, for at the end
of his term he had achieved a position in the very first rank
of American Senators — but at first there was a disappoint-
ment. Mr. White was expected to throw himself with vigor
into the harbor controversy, and to use plain language where
it would be heard by the whole nation. But through the
first two years, he did his duty by the harbor issue — and he
seemed to do no more. When special delegates came on
to Washington from Los Angeles, he presented them to the
Commerce Committee and arranged for their hearing. He
spoke for San Pedro himself with clearness and skill on
each available opportunity before the committee, and on
two occasions before the Senate. But there was lacking
the fire and determination and persistency that had been
expected. We know now that he was pursuing the wisest
course; that he was saving his influence, guarding and
strengthening it, for the time when it would prove most
effective in actual result; and that he understood, as no one
else did, the tremendous power wielded by the Huntington
lobby in Washington.

In the month of June the Commerce Committee of the
Senate gave a hearing to the San Pedro- Santa Monica
question. The Los Angeles representatives stated their
case and were followed by Mr. C. P. Huntington, who ap-
peared in person, and asked that an appropriation of $4,000,-
000 be made for the breakwater at Port Los Angeles. Mr.
Hood repeated his objections to San Pedro, and after him
came E. L. Corthell, a riparian engineer of national emi-
nence, who stated that he had looked over the two harbors
at the request of Mr. Huntington, and had found Santa
Monica much the superior. He asserted among other things
that the currents along the shore at Sart Pedro were from
east to west, and that sand would be carried into the harbor
-in large quantities, necessitating constant dredging. This
statement, which was reiterated thereafter by all who sup-
ported the Santa Monica side, was denied at the time by Mr.
Gibbon, who narrated the fact, known to all residents on San
Pedro bay, that lumber or coal washed overboard at San
Pedro, always drifts easterly, and comes ashore in the neigh-
borhood of Long Beach. Two years later, the Walker

THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE. 119

Board gave a thorough consideration to the matter of cur-
rents, and Mr. Corthell's theory was finally ruled out.*

The contest in the committee was prolonged through sev-
eral weeks, and ii was not until the middle of July that a
decision was reached. In the beginning the San Pedro ad-
vocates thought they had to face merely the issue of an ap-
propriation for that place or no appropriation at all; but
they presently discovered that the Santa Monica location,
which had received no commendation from the engineers,
and for which no one except Mr. Huntington put in a claim,
could count a number of determined friends on the com-
mittee, and it was apparently to be a question of Santa Mon-
ica or nothing. This situation had been fairly outlined by
Senator White some months previous in a telegram to Mr.
D. Freeman, the president of the Chamber, who at the time
the election was about to take place, had applied to Mr. White
for his opinion as to San Pedro's chances; and the latter
had responded, with perhaps more of truth and sincerity
than discretion, that the feeling in the Senate Committee
was in favor of Santa Monica rather than San Pedro, and
that any eiifort to get an appropriation for the latter point
would involve a hard fight with uncertain issue. Mr. Free-
man handed the telegram to a careless person, who allowed it
to fall into a grate fire that was burning in the room — and
it was promptly forgotten. Had it been made public just
at that time, the vote in the Chamber of Commerce might
have gone the other way, with what consequences it is hard
to tell. The what-might-have-beens of history are some-
times very interesting. Mr. White's purpose in sending
the tfilegram — if he had a purpose beyond that of giving
truthfully the information for which he was asked — was
this: he knew that Mr. Freeman, and the moving spirits
in the Chamber of Commerce, were not likely to be turned
aside from their purpose to secure a competitive harbor for
Los Angeles, by the mere knowledge that the path was beset
with difficulty; but, on the other hand they must, by learn-

*While the Walker Board was carrying on its investigation in San
Pedro Bay, a sailor on the government boat, the Gedney, fell overboard
and was drowned near San Pedro. His body was recovered some dis-
tance down the shore tpward I<ong Beach — a striking evidence of the
error of Mr. Corthell's theory.

I20 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

ing the truth of the situation, share part of the responsibility
for the contest that was about to be undertaken.

Now, for the first time, the attention of the newspapers of
the Eastern States began to be attracted to the harbor mat-
ter. A combat between the advocates of rival sites for har-
bor improvement would naturally have but little interest for
people removed from the immediate locality that was con-
cerned; but here was an issue that involved questions of
grave national importance: Should a harbor be located
in accordance with the judgment of the government
engineers, based on thorough acquaintance with all the con-
ditions, and in accordance with the wishes of the people of
the section, and the demands of all their representatives;
or upon the mere ipse dixit of one rich and powerful man,
whose commercial interest required it in another place? Is
this — as the New York World pertinently asked regarding
the matter — "Is this a government by the people, for the
people, or a government by Mr. Huntington, for Mr. Hunt-
ington? The question may as well be settled in the Santa
Monica-San Pedro controversy, as anywhere : now, as at
any time."

Several New York, Chicago and St. Louis papers pub-
lished articles on the subject, and the New York World was
particularly severe upon Senator Jones, who in those days
took an aggressive stand in favor of Santa Monica. Sub-
sequently he grew more moderate, although his vote was
always for the Huntington site. This is the way the World
puts it (June 26) :

The advantages which the building of an artificial har-
i bor at Santa Monica would bring to Senator Jones person-
I ally, it is difficult to overestimate. The official record
1 sheds some light upon the subject. The county records of
1 L5s Angeles show that the property adjoining the exclusive
I water-front of the Southern Pacific is divided into eight
1 holdings. The title to parcels one, two and eight are in the
; names of John P. Jones and Arcadia B. de Baker. They
; constitute three-quarters of all the lands situated as de-
I scribed. All the remainder of the land with the exception of
I a few feet at the mouth of the Santa Monica canyon is in the
I name of Frank H. Davis, representing Mr. Huntington.
; It will be seen that Mr. Huntington's Santa Monica enter-

EASTERN NEWSPAPER COMMENT. 121

I prise throughout its entire extent is as exclusive as though
! it were surrounded by a Chinese wall.

The St. Louis Globe Democrat contained full reports of
the proceedings in committee and from these (June 26 to
July 9, 1894) the following paragraphs are culled :

The harbor contest at Los Angeles waxes warmer. C.
; P. Huntington was seen going the rounds of the hotels to-
jday, and although it was Sunday, he made no halt in but-
! tonholing Senators. Four days ago there was a decided ma-
jority in the Commerce Committee in favor of following the
[wishes of the two Senators from California, but since the
[ arrival of Mr. Huntington at the capital it is now a matter
j of great doubt where the majority will be found. There is
'serious speculation in the minds of many people as to the
'means Mr. Huntington may have used to bring about this

[change

For three hours the battle of San Pedro against Santa
I Monica for government recognition as the Los Angeles har-
I bor waged to-day in the room of the Senate Committee on
I Commerce. Huntington, the Southern Pacific magnate,
) paced the corridors, and asked anxiously after news, when-
) ever any one came out of the committee room, and betrayed
) a degree of nervousness wholly unusual to him. Ordinarily
1 Mr. Huntington is philosophical and composed. To-day he
i was "rattled" as no one remembers to have seen him, in his
I many visits to the capital.

One of a series of telegrams, from J. W. Reinhart, presi-
; dent of the Santa Fe, to Mr. R. C. Kerens, shows how much
lis at stake in this contest: "Atchison is too much inter-
I ested with its $500,000,000 of property, to permit it to be
; held out of Pacific ocean business by the Southern Pacific,
I whose prayer, if granted, would shut out Atchison and
[create absolute monopoly. Atchison is the only railway
[line, other than the Southern Pacific, reaching Southern
; California. If the appropriation goes to Huntington, it
I throttles all chances of competition, besides permanently in-
> juring the growth of California and adjacent States and Ter-
' ritories."

Mr. Huntington's chief supporters in the committee were
Frye of Maine, Jones of Nevada, Dolph of Oregon and the
Chairman, Ransom of North Carolina, who had unexpectedly
changed from being a San Pedro advocate to a warm ad-
mirer of Santa Monica. Although the issue did not come to

122 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

a straight-out vote, these gentlemen all showed by their ex-
pressions in the debate that they were entirely prepared to
give Mr. Huntington the $4,000,000 for which he asked.
Cullom of Illinois, Berry of Arkansas and White of Cali-
fornia were for San Pedro without reservation of any sort.
Gorman of Maryland was a San Pedro man, who later
switched to the other side. The other members of the com-
mittee were either absent or wavering. The result was a
drawn battle.

A motion was passed deferring the decision until the
next year, "in order," so the resolution read, "to give the
members of the Committee on Commerce an opportunity
to visit the two harbors and form an opinion on their re-
spective merits." No provision was made for the expenses
of the members of the Committee who were to make the trip,
and no definite time was set for them to go. It was to be
"quite informal." Mr. Frye, who made the motion, an-
announced that he, for one, did not propose to go. Why
should he? Had he not looked at both harbors some years
ago, and determined then and there that Santa Monica was
the better ?

This was the so-called "Senatorial Commission," which
was to effect another "final settlement," and which never
came. The fight over the Wilson bill kept Congress in ses-
sion all .through the summer. In the brief autumnal recess
Mr. Cullom visited Los Angeles, inspected the harbors, at-
tended a reception given him by the Illinois people, talked
discreetly on the subject of the contest, and then departed.
As a device for gaining a year's time "to tire out the people"
the Senatorial Commission was decidedly clever; otherwise
it did not amount to much. Grave doubt was expressed by
the irreverent whether the casual observation of the surface
of the waves in a harbor by a United States Senator should
be accepted as more valuable than the practical investigation
of winds, currents, soundings and borings made by riparian
experts and trained engineers. The people had asked for
bread, and they had received a stone.

Up to this time the question had appeared but little in
politics ; but on the return of Mr. Gibbon and Mr. Patton, it
was decided, that as the Congress was Democratic, it would
be advisable to secure expressions from representative

THE QUESTION ENTERS POLITICS. 123

gatherings of that party in favor of the people's choice for a
harbor site. The County Democratic Convention led the
way, and was followed by the Congressional, District and
State Conventions. Mr. Patton was nominated by the
Democrats for Congress, and he began to tell the story of
San Pedro at every campaign meeting in the district.

The Republican County Convention and Congressional
District Convention adopted resolutions similar to those of
the Democrats, and Mr. James McLachlan, who was nom-
inated for Congress by the Republicans, announced himself
for San Pedro as against any other location. Mr. McLach-
lan was elected. A Republican Legislature was chosen which
elected George C. Perkins to the Senate to fill out Mr.
Stanford's unexpired term.

An important newspaper change is to be noted as occurring
in 1894. The Herald was sold, and passed into the hands of
men who favored the San Pedro site. From that time forth
it was an ardent advocate of that location, and in the
winter of 1895 it did good service in gathering 20,000 names
on a petition to Congress.

CHAPTER XIII.
The Free Harbor League.

THE period of the greatest discouragement for the ad-
vocates of San Pedro harbor came in the years 1894
and 189s, during the life of the 53rd Congress. The discov-
ery which was made in July, 1894, that it was quite possible
for Mr. Huntington to secure a majority in the congressional
committees favoring his plan, in spite of the decision of the
engineers against it, staggered the free harbor workers,
whose fundamental doctrine had always been, that whatever
might be done for San Pedro, appropriations for the other
place were out of the range of possibility. Nevertheless, this
was a period of comparative unanimity of sentiment in Los
Angeles. People understood that it would be a long siege,
and they settled down to it philosophically.

The Chamber of Commerce sent no delegate to the second
session of the 5 3rd Congress, which took place in the winter

124 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

and spring of 1895. Mr. Gibbon, who paid a visit to Wash-
ington at the opening of the session, reported that nothing
was to be expected until a change was made in the personnel
of the Senate Commerce Committee. The members of that
committee having voted not to act until they had inspected
the harbors, there was no hope for an appropriation until
the visit was made or the committee changed.

An important piece of missionary work was, however, un-
dertaken that winter, which served to keep the issue alive,
both in Washington and in Los Angeles, and which led
finally to the founding of a new organization, that was
destined to play a most important part in the controversy.
On the suggestion of E. A. Forrester, a member of the
Board of Supervisors, a circular letter addressed to mem-
bers of Congress was drawn up, describing the situation in
most emphatic language, and a notice was then sent to each
member of the Chamber of Commerce, asking him whether
he had any friends among the members of the 53rd Con-
gress. A printed list of the members of that Congress was
enclosed. It was striking evidence of the cosmopolitan
character of the city, that over 200 of the 600 members of
the Chamber responded, and the Congressmen, whom they
named, were almost from every State in the Union. More
fhan two-thirds of the members of the Chamber had come
to Los Angeles after they had reached mature years in some
other portion of the Union, and the 53rd Congress was
pretty well covered in the responses.

It was doubtless a matter of surprise to a member from
some Ohio district, for example, to receive during that
winter, a series of letters, one after another, from
former fellow-townsmen, whose identity he had almost
forgotten, all urging him to make a stand against an
iniquitous scheme to "bottle up" the commercial privileges
of Los Angeles in a harbor that was closed to competition.
There was in each case a short personal letter and the
circular.

The latter document used, as has been said, some very
strong language, and when it was presented to the Directors
of the Chamber, and was proposed to be sent out as an official
document, objection was made on the ground that it was

A HARBOR CIRCULAR. 125

undiplomatic and quite out of keeping with the conservative
attitude thus far taken by that body on the harbor issue.

The concluding paragraphs of the circular are fairly in-
dicative of its general tenor, and they may be quoted :

A situation so extraordinary and an injustice so long
(maintained calls at last for plain speech. The people of
; Southern California waited patiently during the first few
I years of this controversy, when it seemed that there might
I be an honest disagreement among the authorities, but now
I that the whole matter has been sifted to the bottom, and
; resolves itself into a question of how long a crafty corpora-
1 tion can defraud the people of their right to a free harbor, we
1 shall hold back no longer, but call upon every lover of fair
1 play to help us in this contest.

The people of this section of California are gathered to-
I gether from every point of the Union, few being natives of
' this State. Americans by birth and freeman by instinct,
I they refuse to submit to the commercial enthrallment which
I has so long retarded the growth and dwarfed the energies of
I San Francisco and Oakland. The presence of a competing
I railroad into Los Angeles has been thus far a protection
i against the encroachment of the Southern Pacific monopoly
I — ^but this will avail us but little if our water front is to be
I placed in their hands. We appeal, therefore, to our repre-
' sentatives at Washington — to all our representatives, in the
I sense that the whole Congress governs the whole nation —
[ that those who are stealthily carrying forward this great
I wrong may be called to an open accounting, and that the
\ rights of the people of the southwestern section of the Union
) may not be deliberately sacrificed to the private and personal
I interests of individuals, and the steady encroachment of
I a despotic corporation.

The document was finally sent out bearing the names of
six well known citizens, who were designated as a "harbor
committee." They were the following: John F. Humph-
reys, J. M. Elliott, W. D. Woolwine, J. R. Toberman, M. T.
Collins and J. A. Pirtle.

Responses to this circular were numerous, and they, re-
vealed the fact that a great many members of Congress were
fully awake to what was going on. Several explained the

126 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

difficulty that must be met in any attempt to interfere with
one item in a general appropriation bill, on the part of those
who are not members of the House River and Harbor or the
Senate Commerce Committees. These measures, it was
said, are prepared in committee, and each member of the
House or the Senate looks out for the particular items that
concern his district. For him to interfere with any others
would be entirely against precedent, and might result in
his losing those in which he was directly interested. When
the bill emerges into the general body, the great majority
of the members are prepared to vote for it unchanged, fear-

L. W. BLINN.

ing lest, if amendments are attempted, the whole structure
may topple over. In the House the bill is rushed through
at a lightning rate of speed with no opportunity given for
the considertion of special cases. The whole plan seemed
admirably adapted, in fact, for. putting through just such
a plot as the one which the circular had outlined.

The Chamber of Commerce had by this time grown to be
a large concern with many and varied interests, and while it
still remained faithful to the San Pedro idea, it could not

FORMATION OF THE LEAGUE. 127

be expected to do the active fighting. The attitude taken by
its officers in the matter of the circular to Congressmen,
while it was accepted as entirely justifiable, led to the form-
ing of a new organization, having for its one and only pur-
pose the "securing of appropriations for a deep-water har-
bor at San Pedro, which will be accessible to as many rail-
ways as may seek to come to the water front." The name
that was adopted was the "Free Harbor League," which
constituted an argument in itself, or else, as its opponents
claimed, a vicious begging of the whole question. Its first

FKRD. K. RULE.

meetings were held during the month of October, 1895, at
the Chamber of Commerce, and it made its headquarters
there, throughout its career. Its original promoters were
L W. Blinn, John F. Francis, Chas. Weir, W. D. Wool-
wine, H. G. Otis, Chas. Forman, W. C. Patterson, Geo.
W. Parsons, Robert McGarvin, Chas. Forrester, F. K. Rule,
Geo. Gephard, W. H. Workman, Frank A. Gibson, J. M.
Elliott, T. E. Gibbon, Harry E. Brook, C. D. Willard, H.
Hawgood, H. T. Hazard, W. G. Kerckhofif, A. M. Stephens,

128

THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

N. Bonfilio and W. B. Cline. In a short time the rolls con-
tained the names of over 300 leading citizens, and the or-
ganization was ready for work.

L. W. Blinn, a lumber merchant; favorably known for his
public-spirit was elected president, and W. D. Woolwine,
a popular banker, was chosen secretary. The vice-presidents
were Col. H. G. Otis and John F. Francis, and of the latter
it may be said that he was, from the beginning, a most in-
defatigable worker in the cause — one of those who went

CHARLES WEIR.

right on with courage and cheerfulness when others were
disheartened and ready to give up. To him fell the diffi-
cult and rather ungracious task of raising funds to carry on
the work. In this he was assisted by Charles Weir; and to-
gether they labored assiduously until enough was secured
to pay postage and printing expenses for the bureau of pub-
licity which the League maintained, and also to pay — some-
time later — the traveling expenses of several delegaticms
sent on to Washington.

WORK OF THE LEAGUE.

129

"When I had argued with a man for a quarter of an
hour," said Mr. Francis, speaking afterwards of this work,
"and succeeded at last in getting ten dollars out of him, it
did look horribly small in comparison with the many millions
that I knew Uncle Collis* had at his disposal; but I remem-
bered that one dollar and the right were a whole lot bigger

GEORGE W. PARSONS.

than a million dollars and the wrong, and I took fresh
courage and went to work again."

The general membership of the League was but seldom
summoned together, and when it was, the fact must be re-
corded, that it pretty unanimously failed to appear. This
led to no little sarcasm on the part of the Express, which was
still an active Santa Monica advocate, and that paper de-
clared that the League was a humbug, being a name and
nothing more. This was hardly just — at least the failure of
the members to attend the meetings proved nothing; for an

* Collis P. Huntington is generally called "Uncle Collis" by the
people of the Pacific coast — a name which is not bestowed in ill-will but
rather with friendly satire, for the reason — the present writer supposes —
that he holds so large a section of the State of California in pawn.

I30 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

executive committee had been chosen of men of character
and ability and known experience in public work, and the
members were satisfied — or seemed to be satisfied — that it
would transact the League's business properly.

It must be admitted, however, that when the actual harbor
campaign began, the League was steered and managed by
a small clique of veteran San Pedro workers, and some
of the taunts of the Express certainly struck home. The
same criticism may be passed, however, on many public or-
ganizations. If the League had not been so well steered,
it would not have passed so successfully the many reefs that
lay waiting before it.

Early in 1896, Dr. Widney appeared before the Directors
of the Chamber of Commerce, and narrated a conversation
that he had recently had with Lieut-Col. W. H. H. Ben-
yaurd, of the government engineers, who was thoroughly
familiar with the conditions at San Pedro. Col. Benyaurd
stated that he was about to send in a report to the Secretary
of War with reference to the possibility of deepening the
inner harbor of San Pedro from 14 to 18 feet* by a small
amount of judicious dredging. Dr. Widney advised that
Col. Benyaurd be questioned by the Chamber on this point,
and that his forthcoming report be considered in formulat-
ing the Chamber's harbor policy for the winter's campaign.

In response to an inquiry from the chamber. Col. Ben-
yaurd developed his project, which called for an expenditure
of something under $400,000, and which would nearly double
the efficiency of the inner harbor. It would not make a deep-
sea harbor, for which 25 to 30 feet is required; but with 18
feet at low tide, a great many first-class ocean-going vessels
could be accommodated.

The letter was put in the hands of the League managers,
who gave it serious consideration; and at last a plan of
action was evolved, somewhat different from that which had
previously been pursued.

Senator White had written discouragingly of the situa-
tion at Washington, with regard to appropriations of every
character. The treasury was drained of gold, and the bal-
ance between receipts and expenditures was heavily against

*A11 figures of harbor depth unless otherwise specified are for mean
low tide.

A CHANGE OF POLICY. 131

the government. The Republican party had regained power
in the House, and were bent on a policy of rigid economy-
No money was to be spent on rivers and harbors, except for
existing contracts and for emergencies. San Pedro's case
would scarcely receive a decent hearing.

Representative McLachlan wrote in the same strain, and
the friends of San Pedro from other States acquiesed in this
view.

The suggestion of Col. Benyaurd seemed to have arrived
pat on the moment. To ask for an appropriation for a deep-
sea harbor at such a time was a waste of energy, and might
be construed as unreasonable, and to the prejudice of the
cause. Would it not be well, so the League committee
argued, merely to ask for an appropriation for the inner har-
bor this year, and, while reaffirming confidence in the outer
harbor plan, def ev all action upon it until another year ?

Against this it was argued that to lay aside the outer har-
bor demand might be construed as an abandonment of that
part of the issue; but on the other side again it was said that,
as there was not the slightest chance that anything could
be done for Santa Monica in this session, the deep-water
issue would not be broached at all, and could be taken up with
renewed vigor next year, when the government was more
disposed to consider harbor work. This additional argu-
ment was offered : that every dollar spent on the inside har-
bor helped to strengthen the government's interest in that
port, rendering it less liable to be deserted for another.

One evening, when this topic was under informal dis-
cussion in a little gathering of League members, the sug-
gestion was thrown out that perhaps Mr. Huntingdon was
becoming quite as tired of the fight as the Los Angeles
people were, and that an armistice for the season might
appeal to him most favorably. One member of the
party was delegated to investigate and find out
how the land lay in that direction, he being on
very good terms with one of Mr. Huntington's local
representatives. When this representative was appealed
to, he declared his belief that the Southern Pacific president
would not only refrain from interfering with any attempt
on the part of the League to secure an appropriation for San
Pedro, in accordance with the Benyaurd project, but would

132 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

even lend his powerful assistance. However, he would take
the matter up with Mr. Huntington, and return an answer
in two or three weeks.

In just about the time that is required to send a letter from
Los Angeles to New York and get a response, the, answer
was given. Nobody was to be quoted as actually promising
anything; it was all unofficial and confidential — but the
League might go right ahead; the track was clear.

CHAPTER XIV.
The Trap is Sprung.

WHETHER it . would add materially to the interest
of the story or not, it would certainly bring
this narration better into line with dramatic unitiejS,
if it were possible to say that the armistice proposed
by the League, and the seeming abandonment of the
outer harbor idea, was nothing more nor less than
a handsome piece of finesse, intended for the purpose
of drawing Mr. Huntington's highest cards without
showing San Pedro's hand in return; unfortunately, how-
ever, for the artistic quality of the harbor story, this was
not the case. It was, after all, a chance shot that brought
down the game. Regarded from the point of view of pol-
itics and warfare, the course adopted by the League was
very near to a bad blunder. There was a time coming pres-
ently when the League was to be denounced by many of the
old harbor workers, as a choice collection of mischief
makers and simpletons. They had trusted a man, so the in-
dictment against them went, who had repeatedly broken his
promises before in the San Pedro matter, and who, from his
record in all such transactions, was entitled to nobody's con-
fidence. They had put a taint of insincerity into the whole
San Pedro cause; they had offered to bargain away the old
pledge of a "free harbor" for a few hundred thousands of
immediate appropriation.

Finis coronat opus. It is the final outcome that tells the
story. The League was damned most unanimously by the
Santa Monica advocates, because it was for San Pedro, and

WAS IT A MISTAKE? 133

it was damned again by the extremists of the San Pedro
faction. As it is of a public man, so it is of a public or-
ganization: to be denounced by the partisans at each ex-
treme is good evidence of a conservative policy that will win
in the long run. If the League made a tactical error in com-
promising with Mr. Huntington, it certainly retrieved the
mistake by a splendid showing of courage and clear sight
later in the battle.

It is only fair to note, however, that the charge that Mr.
Huntington broke his promise or acted treacherously in the
aflfair is not in accord with the facts. To begin with, the
understanding was informal and unofificial at both ends of
the line, and the phraseology used was decidedly vague.
There was no promise on Mr. Huntington's part that he
would refrain from helping Santa Monica: only that he
would not interfere with the efforts of the League to secure
an appropriation for the inside harbor at San Pedro. Know-
ing the utterly demoralized condition of public finances, the
members of the League never dreamed for one moment that
Mr. Huntington could break into the treasury for a $3,000,-
000 appropriation ; and no stipulation on that point was ever
suggested. Nor is it entirely just to Mr. Huntington to say
that he had previous to this time broken any pledges on the
San Pedro harbor issue. Neither he nor any of his people
had ever agreed in definite terms to abide by the decision of
any of the various boards or commissions. Of course the
appointment of a board — of several boards in fact^at the re-
quest of one of the parties to the controversy, certainly im-
plies that all — and particularly that one — are to accept the
result of the arbitration. There was something like a moral
obligation — but no one expects corporations to be held by
moral obligations, in a day when even legal obligations are
scarcely kept inviolate.

The statement is sometimes made that there was a dis-
position on the part of the League to abandon the outer har-
bor, but this is not true. In all its resolutions, and in its
memorial, which was addressed to Congress in February,
1896, the League declared its adherence to the idea of a
deep-water harbor, and explained that it was only by reason
of the depleted condition of the treasury that the request
for an appropriation was limited to the interior work. The

134 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

exact phraseology of the memorial is as fallows: "At pres-
ent the people of Southern California, recognizing that in the
existing condition of the nation's finances, it would be very
difficult to obtain an appropriation for the , large amount
necessary for a deep-water outer harbor, are confining their
request to a moderate sum for the completion of work on the
inner harbor. The object of the government engineers is to
secure there a depth of eighteen feet."

The exact amount specified, under the Benyaurd estimate,
is $392,725.

. At a meeting of the League, February 7th, Col. H. G.
Otis, Mr. W. G. Kerckhoff, Mr. W. C. Patterson and Mr.
W. D. Woolwine were elected a special delegation to pro-
ceed to Washington in behalf of the League, and lay the San
Pedro case before the River and Harbor Committee of the
House.

Mr. James McLachlan, the member for the Sixth Congres-
sional district — which under the reapportionment included
Los Angeles county and a tier of coast counties running
northward to Monterey — was an able lawyer, who had
served as District Attorney, and had been actively identified
with Republican politics in the southern part of the State for
a number of years He enjoyed, in a high degree, the con-
fidence and good-will of his constituents, and his outlook
for future political favors was excellent. The feeling was
general in the district that great loss had already been suf-
fered in the frequent changes of representatives, and Mr.
McLachlan was regarded as a probable permanency. But
the harbor question, which played havoc in so many direc-
tions, was destined to interfere most seriously with this plan.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Rivers and
Harbors was Mr. Warren B. Hooker, of Fredonia, New
York. He professed great interest in the San Pedro matter,
and a time was set on the 1 7th of February for the hearing
of the delegation. Mr. Binger Hermann, of Oregon, an in-
fluential member of the committee, and Chairman of the
sub-committee on the Pacific Coast, showed much consid-
eration to the League delegates, and on their departure as-
sured them that he was confident their prayer would be
granted.

Mr. McLachlan made the principal talk before the com-

A MYSTERIOUS PROCEEDING. 135

mittee, and explained that, while there was no disposition on
the part of the citizens of Los Angeles to abandon the idea
of an outer deep-water harbor, it had been thought best,
owing to the condition of the treasury, to ask only for the
small appropriation for the Benyaurd project in the inner
harbor. There was no Santa Monica-San Pedro discussion
— the controversial features were ignored. The delegates
were heard, and the committee took the matter under ad-
visement.

Proceedings before the committees on the River and
Harbor Bill are supposed to be entirely secret; nevertheless
word was brought to Mr. McLachlan a few days later that
Mr. Huntington had been before the Senate Commerce
Committee in person and had put in a demand for $3,000,-
000 for Santa Monica.

"What does that mean?" Mr. McLachlan asked of several
members of the committee. They seemed to regard it as a
matter of no consequence. The demand for San Pedro
had come from both Senators and all the representatives
of the State, and was backed up by the representative com-
mercial bodies, and was in accordance with the report of
the engineering authorities of the government. The demand
for Santa Monica was simply from Mr. Huntington. More-
over, the San Pedro amount was reasonable and possible,
that for Santa Monica was preposterous and not to be con-
sidered.

Not entirely satisfied with the reasoning, and desirous
of covering every loophole, Mr. McLachlan appealed di-
rectly to Mr. Hermann, and asked if anything was likely
to be done for a deep-water harbor near Los Angeles. "If
there is," said he, "the people of my district wish it to go to
San Pedro."

To which Mr. Hermann returned answer that no appro-
priation would be made for an outside harbor that session.
He was very clear and emphatic in his declaration.

Now, just about that same time Mr. Hermann was writ-
ing to Mr. Patterson the letter that revealed the whole plot.
Evidently when Mr. Hermann wrote, March 16, 1896, he
supposed that the bill would have emerged from the com-
mittee before the letter was received in Los Angeles. Some
miscalculation with reference to a New England coast item

136 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

made a temporary adjournment of the committee necessary,
and the bill did not come before the House until April 6th.

Mr. Hermann's letter is such a politico-literary master-
piece, that it deserves to be reproduced in full :

Dear Mr. Patterson : Your much valued favor is at hand.
1 1 congratulate you on your safe arrival back to the land of
I sunshine and flowers, and to the bosom of your family.

I wish to express to you my deepest obligation for the
\ honor you have done me in your Chillicothe interview, and
[in your Los Angeles interview. Your personal reference
[to myself convinces me that I possess your confidence and
[ esteem. I shall endeavor in future acquaintance not to dis-
I appoint you. In one respect you shall not be deceived —
[ I shall prove loyal to San Pedro Harbor. My position here
[ since meeting yourself, Col. Otis and your other compan-

> ions, has been directly at work to secure for San Pedro the
I recognition it merits. Your county should have both great

> works — San Pedro and Santa Monica — and later on as I so
) strongly suggested to you, a project for a still deeper draft
I should be insisted on for San Pedro. In this age of rivalry

I for deeper draft ships, and hence for correspondingly deeper
! water, no port can long retain its ascendancy, unless it con-
I stantly keeps in view the essential requisite of increasing its
(channel depths.

At this hour, I have succeeded in securing for San Pedro
J the contract system, which means the securing immediately
J of the entire $392,000 through contract, and the prompt
j completion of the whole project.

This is a great victory. Santa Monica secures the same
I advantage ; the amount for completion, however, is much
[larger. We have placed about 25 of the important
I water ways of our nation under this system, and California
I receives two of these.

In three days we shall report our bill. Of course some
i event may happen by which we may suffer the loss of the
I items now contained in the bill, but I think we shall hold
I them. If one goes, the other must take the same course.
I, for one, desire to bring to a close the antagonism between
I your two harbors, which has grown out of the apprehension
Ithat one place might be recognized by the government to
1 the discrimination of the other. I wish that both shall have
Ithe same friendly treatment to the full extent of the maxi-
I mum estimates for both.

As soon as I shall be permitted to give publicity to the

THE HERMANN LETTER.

137

; items of the bill, I shall be the first to telegraph Col. Otis of
I the result.

Again thanking you for your many kind attentions, and

for the trouble taken in mailing me the newspapers with per-

I sonal references, and in hopes that I shall have the pleasure

I of meeting and greeting you ere long under your own vine

I and fig tree, I am, with sincerest regards.

Sincerely yours,

BiNGER Hermann.

There is so much delicate humor in this production, that
one is compelled to believe the Honorable Binger Hermann
must have greatly enjoyed the process of iliditing it. "In

W. D. WOOLWINE.

one respect you shall not be deceived," says he, mindful
doubtless of the many conversations which he and Mr. Pat-
terson had had, during which there was not a whisper of the
possibility of giving a deep-water harbor to any place in the
vicinity of Los Angeles. His exclusive reference to this "one

138 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

respect" indicates that in Mr. Hermann's mind there was
the thought of various other respects. "Of course," he ob-
serves with sinister suavity, "some event may happen by
which we may suffer the loss of the items. If one goes the
Other must take the same course." Reading between the
hnes is here an easy task. Any protest against Mr. Hunt-
ington's plan meant for the people the loss of all they had
asked.

Probably no letter, carried by the United States mail over
the borders of Los Angeles county, ever brought a larger
quantity of astonishment than this. Through the whole of
the harbor discussion, there had been a few affable com-
promisers, who were in favor of "both harbors." Their
theory of the proper thing to do was that the people should
ask the government to build a deep-water harbor at Santa
Monica because Mr. Huntington wished it there, and an an-
other at San Pedro for competing commerce. These people
were regarded as the prize idiots of the whole collection. To
assume that the government would be willing even to con-
sider the construction to two harbors within twenty miles of
each other on a coast that had no harbors at all for 600
miles, for a scattered population of 200,000 people in a semi-
desert and distant corner of the Union, was too preposterous
to waste time in discussing. And yet, according to Mr. Her-
mann, the House Committee on Rivers and Harbors were
prepared to take that step — if it could be done quietly and
without objection. But if one item was thrown out, the other
must go.

A meeting of the League was hastily summoned, and the
Hermann letter was laid before the gathering. These men
were not merely the representatives of a commercial interest,
they were American citizens as well ; and the enormity of the
scheme in which they were asked to serve as partners struck
them with horror. The thing seemed incredible, and some
who were present declared that it was only a trick. Gen.
Forman, for example, stated his belief that Mr. Hermann
was merely "trying it on," to see how such a plan would be
received. He called attention to the fact that the letter,
which was now eight days old, stated the bill was to be re-
ported in three days, while the dispatches from Washing-
ton showed that the bill was not reported, and was in-

THE LEAGUK ACTS. 139

deed not expected for another week. L. W. Blinn counseled
moderation, lest precipitate action should destroy San
Pedro's only hope. But Col. Otis, stung to anger by the
deception that had been practiced upon the delegation, de-
clared that the plot was evidently matured, and the League
could not do less than to speak with frankness. The follow-
ing resolutions were offered by him and adopted by a unani-
mous vote — so the League minutes state :

Resolved, By the Free Harbor League of Los Angeles,
that we reaffirm our adherence to San Pedro as the true
and proper site — as the people's as well as the government's
site — for further harbor improvement, and that we are op-
posed to all legislation, if any such is contemplated by Con-
gress, inconsistent with the purpose so supremely essential
to the business interest and commercial advantage of South-
ern California.

In the meantime Mr. McLachlan, hearing a rumor that
Santa Monica was to receive a deep-water harbor appropria-
tion, had called upon the Chairman of the Committee, Mr.
Hooker, and was by him assured that there was "nothing
in it" But when the report was all ready for submission to
the House, and was put in type at the government printing
office, a correspondent of the San Francisco Examiner man-
aged to secure proofs of the document, and in a few hours
the schedule was spread by telegraph all over the country;
and there were the two items in the list of continuing con-
tracts : San Pedro $392,000 and Santa Monica $3,098,000.
Almost at the same moment that he saw a copy of this list,
Mr. McLachlan received a telegram from Mr. Patterson, in-
forming him of what Mr. Hermann had written, and of the
action of the League.

It was early in the morning, and the Los Angeles Con-
gressman hurried to Mr. Hermann's residence. The Ore-
gon man was just starting for the capitol, and they walked
down the street together.

On the first mention of a Santa Monica appropriation,
Mr. Hermann began to deny with some heat that any such
grant was contemplated, whereupon Mr. McLachlan pro-
duced Mr. Patterson's telegram.

Finding that his scheme to keep the appropriation a se-
cret, until it should be sprung in the House, had suffered de-

140 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

feat through his own premature betrayal of it, Mr. Her-
mann turned upon Mr. McLachlan in great wrath.

"Yes," he said, "we have given that money to Santa Mon-
ica, and we did not want anything said about it, for fear
there might be an uproar, and both items would be knocked
out. -Now do you propose to make a fuss?"

Mr. McLachlan replied that he did.

"Well, you are by all odds the -^ est fool that the whole

State of California ever sent to Congress. Here

you apply to us for an appropriation of $390,000 for your
inside harbor at San Pedro, and you not only get that in
full, but you get in addition over $3,000,000 more for Santa
Monica, another place in your own district. There isn't a
man in the whole House of Representatives that has had
such handsome treatment. And here, instead of going

down on your knees and thanking us, by , for giving

you all you ask, and even more, yoti have the unspeakable
effrontery to set up a roar."

"You don't understand the situation, Mr. Hermann," said
the Los Angeles Congressman. "The people of my district
will never consent — "

"The people of your district are a set of idiots that don't
know when they are well off, if they can't take a double ap-
propriation and two harbors, when they have only asked for
one. All right," he continued, his voice rising higher as his
anger grew, "both those items go out of the bill now, do you
hear. If you won't take Santa Monica, you don't get San
Pedro."

And true to his word, a few hours later, Mr. Binger Her-
mann rose in his place in the River and Harbor Committee,
and, announcing that he had received several telegrams from
Los Angeles, from the Free Harbor League and from citi-
zens there, against the Santa Monica appropriation, and as
the congressman from that district was opposed to that ap-
propriation, he moved that all sums set aside for Los Angeles
county be struck from the bill. The motion carried. Sub-
sequently on the request of Charles A. Towne, a Minnesota
representative, an appropriation of $50,000 for the dredg-
ing of the inner harbor at San Pedro was inserted, and in
that shape the bill went to the House April 6, 1896.

CHAPTER XV.
The Double Appropriation Scheme.

THE harbor issue had now shifted to a new phase. It was
no longer a question of San Pedro or SantaMonica, but
of a deep-sea harbor for Santa Monica and a small appropri-
ation for interior work at San Pedro, or an alternative of
nothing at all for either place. This proposition was so ex-
traordinary and so unexpected, that it was not understood,
in all its bearings, on its first presentation. The small con-
tingent of perennial compromisers, who had insisted from
the beginning that the government should be asked to con-
struct both harbors, were promptly on hand with their "I
told you so," and the Santa Monica sympathizers and the
railway adherents were jubilant. But the average citizen,
who had been disposed to favor San Pedro because it was
the choice of the engineers, and to oppose the Port Los An-
geles site, because he believed it to be entirely under South-
ern Pacific control, was staggered and dazed, and at first
refused to believe.

The meeting of the League, when the Hermann letter was
considered, took place March 28th. Six days later came a
telegram from Representative McLachlan to Mr. Patterson,
that placed the issue in plain and decided terms before the
community. This telegram was as follows :

"Hermann requests me to notify Los Angeles Chamber
of Commerce that if Los Angeles people will unite on
schemes to complete inside harbor at San Pedro and con-
struct deep-sea harbor at Santa Monica, with provision to ad-
mit all railroads to Santa Monica harbor over Southern Pa-
cific tracks by paying pro rata cost, to be determined by Sec-
retary of War, he believes an appropriation of $3,000,000
can be secured this session for said projects. To be effect-
ual immediate action must be taken. I leave matter with
you."

The proposition as to the admitting of other railways, on
their payment of the pro rata of cost, was not new, for it had

142 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEwST.

repeatedly been offered by the Southern Pacific, as an answer
to the objection that Santa Monica was a monopoly harbor.
On its face this seemed a fair enough proposition, but it was
not acceptable to the San Pedro people, who declared that
no plan could be devised that would, in the long run, protect
another road that was entering the harbor over the Southern
Pacific track and through that corporation's own land. A
harbor with a free water front was better, so they asserted,
than one where the rights of any other road than the one
owning the adjacent territory could be maintained only by
a constant appeal to the law, in courts where the Southern
Pacific might perhaps have undue influence.

The offer from Mr. Hermann conveyed in his telegram
did not differ materially, therefore, from what was darkly
hinted in his letter to Mr. Patterson. It was interpreted
by the members of the League to mean that Mr. Huntington
had the House Committee so completely under his control
that he could put in or take out appropriations to suit his
whim, or could even use an offer of money for one place as
a bribe to silence objection, while he got what he wished in
another. Hence no help for a deep.-sea harbor at San
Pedro was to be expected from that committee.

There was another conclusion that was hastily- reached
by the League, as a result of the reception of the telegram.
It was that Mr. McLachlan was no longer to be depended
upon, as a friend of the "free harbor." If he had not gone
completely over to the enemy, he must, at least, so the argu-
ment of the League members ran, have weakened and lost
courage. A most unfortunate circumstance, which told
against Mr. McLachlan in the judgment even of his friends,
was that, while Mr. Patterson was reading the telegram
which had just come from the office, he was accosted by a
reporter from the Express, armed with a copy of Mr. Mc-
Lachlan's message, which had been received some time be-
fore; and ere Mr. Patterson could leave his business office to
go up to the Chamber of Commerce, he was called to the
telephone by a delegation of Santa Monica residents, who
began to talk of the telegram, and in response to a question
from Mr. Patterson, they stated that a copy had been re-
ceived some hours before by the Southern Pacific.

Mr. McLachlan offers what appears to be a fair explana-

MR. MXACHLAN'S EXPLANATION. 143

tion of all this, and the. fact that he was to the end of the
contest, a faithful supporter of the San Pedro deep-water
plan, in spite of the division which afterwards seemed to
take place in Los Angeles, certainly entitles him to the ben-
efit of every doubt. Mr. McLachlan's account of the matter
is as follows : After the River and Harbor Committee had
stricken both items from the list, the $3,098,000 for Santa
Monica and the $392,000 for San Pedro, Mr. Hermann
sent for the Los Angeles Congressman and said to him:
"Now we have fixed this, so that you can have several days'
time in which to consult your people in Los Angeles. This
is in effect a new issue, on which they have never expressed
themselves to you. They favored San Pedro, as against
Santa Monica; but now we are offering them both or neither.
You have no right to decide so important a question, without
listening to their views. Ask any of the older members,
either in the House or Senate, and they will tell you you are
crazy if you do so. The Chamber of Commerce is the rep-
resentative body in Los Angeles; it does not stand for a
special interest Uke that Free Harbor League; wire its presi-
dent, and ask that a vote be taken. I know what their atti-
tude will be on the choice between over $3,000,000 of money
to be spent in their midst, or not a cent. I haven't served
three terms of the River and Harbor Committee to learn
nothing."

"You forget," said Mr. McLachlan, "that my people have
repeatedly acted on the question of a deep-sea harbor at
Santa Monica or San Pedro. This little appropriation for
the San Pedro inner harbor cuts no figure in that issue."

"Wasn't that little appropriation, as you call it, all your
people-^your Free Harbor people — ever asked of us ? How-
ever," continued Mr. Hermann, his wrath beginning to rise,
"if you want to make a fool of yourself and all your con-
stituents, it is no affair of mine. I have done my duty in
the matter."

Full of doubt and apprehension, Mr. McLachlan went
over to the Senate, and consulted with the two Senators
from California. They both advised that Mr. Hermann's
message be conveyed to the people of Los Angeles. It
is, indeed, difficult to see how they could have advised
otherwise. The people are not children, and they are en-

144 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

titled to know what is going on among their representatives,,
and to offer their views in the matter. As to whether their
representatives are to be thereaftei- straightway bound by
that expression is another question. The experiences of Mr.
McLachlan and Senators White and Perkins in the harbor
contest exempUfy the difficuhies that attend the setting up
of any hard and fast rule. We may admit that the vox
populi is the vox dei ; but the question still remains open as
to how the true vox populi is to be had. The public is in
one respect like the monster that Stephano finds on Pros-
pero's isle, in the "Tempest" : it has more than one voice.
And its utterance is not only discordant at times, but it
varies as the days change. That there is such a thing as
public sentiment, and that it does in the long run control pol-
itics and other human affairs, and that it ought to thus con-
trol, no one may doubt — but the representative who asks
his constituents what they think on some particular question,
and who expects to get back an answer within a few days
that is a truthful expression of their views and more valuable
than his own mature conclusions, is likely to receive a
severe shock to his hopes.

Mr. McLachlan returned answer to Mr. Plermann that he
would transmit his proposition to the Chamber of Com-
merce, and Mr. Plermann presumably told Mr. Huntington;
for the Southern Pacific people in Los Angeles were in pos-
session of the facts even before the telegram to Mr. Patter-
,son had. reached its destination. Li order that both factions
might be informed, Mr. McLachlan sent a copy of the tele-
gram to, Col. Osborne, the editor of the Express, and by
some chance the duplicate arrived a few minutes before the
original.

This was the incident which caused the Democrats .to be-
stow upon Mr. McLachlan the sobriquet of "Telegraph
Jim" in the campaign that presently followed, and
which contributed in a large measure to his defeat
then, and to his failure to secure a renomination two
years latter. That the railroad had nothing to do
with Mr. McLachlan's mistake, if the telegram and his
attitude at that time was a mistake, appears clear enough
now that two campaigns have passed, during which he
has had to contend with the active opposition of the rail-

THE CHAMBER'S DILEMMA.

145

way adherents. It was his misfortune at the very thresh-
old of his Congressional career to be flung up against one
of the hardest problems that ever beset a Congressman. On
one side lay huge appropriations for his district, and the
favor of a powerful corporation, and on the other a return
home with empty hands to a angry and discouraged con-
stituency. The moral issues — if any such were involved —
were indistinct and far removed. It may be easy now for
us to decide what Mr. McLachlan should have done; it was

J. O. KOEPFLI.

not so easy then for him to determine, at each shifting phase
of the situation, what was best to do. But, however good
his intentions may have been, and however unjustly he may
have been judged, the fact is that Mr. McLachlan's seat in
Congress was sacrificed through his apparent vacillation on
the harbor question in this eventful week.

A meeting of the directors of the Chamber took place on
the day after the telegram was received. In the meantime,
a special meeting of the League had been held and some
resolutions adopted which were in the nature of a direct
reply to Mr. Hermann's proposition. They set forth that

146 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

if so large a sum was available for deep-water harbor im-
provement — which the League delegates had been hereto-
fore assured was not the case — then it should be applied to
the outer harbor at San Pedro, instead of to Mr. Hunt-
ington's private port of Santa Monica. When the directors
of the Chamber met, Mr. J. O. Koepfli, who, besides being a
member of that board, was also president of the Merchants
Association, offered some emphatic resolutions covering the
same ground as those passed by the League. A number
of members of the Chamber were waiting in the anterooms
to learn what action the board would take, and the threat
was heard that if anything was done to interfere with the
Santa Monica appropriation, a general meeting of the mem-
bers would be summoned, just as in 1894. Desirous of
avoiding this, which might at such a time of general excite-
ment prove injurious both to the chamber and to the cause of
San Pedro, Mr. Patterson advised a more moderate course.
A brief resolution was framed, declaring that the chamber
stood by its past record in favor of a deep-water harbor at
San Pedro in preference to any other site. There was a
sharp fight — for the "San Pedro or nothing" men, as they
were called, were not disposed to yield; but the Koepfli
resolution was voted down and the other passed.

When the news of the action of the board was conveyed
to the ouside rooms, the Santa Monica adherents declared
themselves dissatisfied with the so-called compromise, and
promptly drew up and signed the petition for a general
meeting. As the Washington dispatches indicated that the
committee would report the bill within four days, the petition
set a date for the meeting prior to that time, so that its de-
cision could be conveyed to the House and perhaps affect the
action of that body.

This new phase of the long harbor controversy, the
"double appropriation" idea had roused the community
of Los Angeles to the highest pitch of excitement. To
one faction it represemted the ruin of the hopes and efforts
of many years; to another faction it was the fruition of
all that had ever been dreamed; and to the great body
of the people it was a new and complicated question
on which they were asked to decide with most unseemly
haste. The newspapers gave whole pages of space to

THE DISCUSSION IN 1,08 ANGELES. 147

the topic in every conceivable shape: telegrams from
Washington, interviews with citizens, accounts of meet-
ings, arguments for or against one site or the other,
and fierce invectives against the railroad and its supporters,
or against the folly of those who would throw away the prof-
fered money. The uproar and confusion were so great, that
for a time it was quite impossible to tell which side was
in the ascendancy, but the fact that the proposed meeting
of the Chamber was viewed with great apprehension by the
San Pedro men, indicates that they felt none too sure of
their ground. In the long run, when the sober, conscien-
tious judgment of the people could be reached, they doubted
not it would be recorded for the right, but they dreaded to
think what this suddenly summoned meeting might bring
forth.

However, their fears were superfluous, for when the call
for the proposed meeting was sent out to the secretary of the
Chamber, who happened at the time to be ill of a fever, he
returned it with a letter calling attention to certain provisions
of the constitution bearing on it, that would require several
days for their fulfillment. In the meantime Congress would
act. It was a mere technicality, that, like Mercutio's wound,
was "neither as deep as a well nor as wide as a church door,"
but it serve^. The indignation of the petitioners was
^reat; but the meeting never took place.

Public mass meetings were held, however, and resolutions
were passed, representing both sides of the controversy. The
San Pedro meeting was held out of doors, and was much
larger than that held by the Santa Monica adherents in
Illinois hall; but a number of substantial business men gave
their names and their presence to the latter gathering. The
division of the city was on the whole very nearly equal. If
the San Pedro cause had the greater number, the Santa
Monica side possessed seemingly the more powerful influ-
ence. The city council took action, and it was for the
"double appropriation," and the Republican County conven-
tion, and also the Republican Congressional district conven-
tion' that nominated Mr. McLachlan, passed resolutions in
favor of all the appropriations that could be had, no matter
what locality might receive them. The labor unions were
all for San Pedro; at least the president and secretary of

148 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

every union in Los Angeles signed telegrams to the Califor-
nia representatives, setting forth that the members of their
respective organizations were opposed to the railroad and its
proposed monopoly harbor. Petitions for and against the
proposed "double harbor scheme" were circulated, and every
citizen was forced to take a stand on one side or the other.

The work of circulating the petitions on the double har-
bor side fell into the hands of an employee of the Express,
who hired several irresponsible individuals to gather names.
One of the latter finally confessed that a large number of the
signatures to the petitions were forgeries. The original pe-
titions, which had been filed in Washington, were examined,
and the statement was found to be true. The Express peo-
ple disclaimed all knowledge of the transaction, and, indeed,
the fact that among the forged names were many of the
most prominent League members seemed to indicate that the
work was that of some person of very limited intelligence.

The effect of this disclosure, however, was very bad on the
"double harbor" cause, for it helped to a remarkable degree
the formation of public sentiment against that side of the
controversy. As time went on, particularly in the period
between the action of the House, April 6th, and of the Sen-
ate, May 9th, the Santa Monica side lost, and the San Pedro
side gained. This was due partly to the gradual awakening
of the people to the full meaning of the attitude of the House
Committee, and partly to the steady and effective work done
by the agencies for influencing public opinion, the public
bodies and the newspapers. It was a trying period, but Los
Angeles stood the test well. The double harbor bribe had
failed of its purpose.

CHAPTER XVL

The Struggle in the Senate.

HE story of the consideration of the River and Harbor
bill of 1896 by the House of Representatives may be
written almost as easily as the treatise on snakes in Ireland.
There was none. The bill was offered, and the motion was
made for its adoption, under the suspension of the rules. Such
a motion allows only forty minutes for debate, in one minute

T

QUICK WORK. 149

speeches, and a great part of that time is taken up by the
reading of the bill. Mr. McLachlan was allowed one min-
ute, in which time he made a vigorous objection, but with-
out avail, to the treatment which his section had received.
On the 6th of April, by a rising vote of 216 to 40, the bill
passed the House and went up to the Senate — over,$6o,ooo,-
Goo of public money ordered spent without fifteen minutes
of discussion before the public ! Of secret discussion and of
consideration in committee there had been perhaps sufficient,
if the negotiations carried on by Mr. Hermann were fair
evidence of what that consideration was like.

On the 1 6th of April the Senate Committee on Commerce
reached the San Pedro-Santa Monica matter and gave an
audience to two delegations that had come on from Los An-
geles to represent the conflicting interests. The Santa
Monica, or "double harbor" delegation, as it preferred to be
called, was made up of Mr. J. S. Slauson, who was a direc-
tor in the Chamber of Commerce and a man of wealth and
standing in the community, Mr. James B. Lankershim, a
large property owner, and Mr. John W. Mitchell, an attor-
ney who was active in Democratic politics, and ex-Senator
Cornelius Cole. The Free Harbor League was represented
by Mr. W. C. Patterson, Mr. Henry T. Hazard, Mr. Henry
Hawgood, an engineer of high standing, and Judge Albert
M. Stephens. Mr. Gibbon accompanied the latter party.

Considerable speculation was had over the probable at-
titude of Mr. McLachlan, for each delegation boasted that
he was to appear before the Senate Committee in defense of
its side of the case. Two letters from the representative
to Col. Otis had been published, in which he had deplored
the action of the League in opposing Santa Monica and had
indicated a strong leaning toward the "double harbor" idea.
He went into conference with both delegations, but kept
his own counsel, until the hearing was about to begin, when
he linked his arm into that of Mr. Patterson, walked into
the committee room, and seated himself with the Free Har-
bor men. Inasmuch as Mr. McLachlan's course in the har-
bor matter has been the subject of some little discussion in
these pages, it is perhaps only just that we should reproduce
here his concluding remarks before the Commerce Commit-

ISO THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

tee, and with these his connection with the case comes to
an end.

"Afterwards, and before the River and Harbor bill was
! reported to the House, it was learned that the committee had
» put in the bill an appropriation for the full amount that was
) asked for the inside harbor at San Pedro, and had also in-
> eluded an appropriation (as we were credibly informed) of
) about $2,800,000 for the construction of an outside harbor
1 at Santa Monica. I am bound here to state, as the Rqjre-
1 sentative from that district, that I never asked for an appro-
i priation for Santa Monica. We simply confined our efforts
) to the inside harbor at San Pedro. And I am in duty bound
I to say, as Representative from that district, coming fresh
', from the people, that I am not here to-day asking for an ap-
5 propriation for Santa Monica, but that I am here asking for
I an appropriation to continue that inside harbor at San Pedro
I according to the plan of Colonel Benyaurd. And if in the
I wisdom of this committee it can see its way clear to give us
[an appropriation for an outside harbor, I am bound, under
[my pledges, to ask you to give that appropriation for the
1 construction of the outside wall or breakwater at San
f Pedro."

His position came out even more clearly in the cross-
examination, as follows :

Senator Elkins. You say that you appear here to get an
I appropriation for the inside harbor at San Pedro, and that
1 you would like an appropriation for the outside harbor as
1 well.

Mr. McLachlan. All the friends of San Pedro consider
I that on account of the economical tendency of this Congress,
[ and on account of the condition of the Treasury, it would be
[ wise to confine our efforts to getting an appropriation of
[$392,000 for the inside harbor; but since we discovered a
[ disposition on the part of the House to give more to the
[vicinity of Los Angeles, I say, as a representative of that
[people coming here with those pledges, and that if there is
I to be an appropriation for an outer sea-wall, I ask it for the
[ beginning of the outer harbor at San Pedro.

The Chairman. But you do not expect an appi^opi iation
'1 of some $3,000,000 for Wilmington harbor provided the
I government continues to make a deep-sea harbor at San
'Pedro?

Mr. McLachlan. Yes ; because we believe that one of the

IN THE SENATE COMMITTEE. 151

> most practical advantages to the deep-sea harbor will be the

> completion of the inside harbor at San Pedro.

The delegates made their presentation of the case, speak-
ing in turn. Mr. Patterson dealt with the commercial fea-
tures of the matter, Mr. Hawgood with the technical, and
Mr. Hazard and Judge Stephens paid their respects to Mr.
Huntington. The speakers on the other side deplored the
attacks on Mr. Huntington, which they declared had their
origin in mere prejudice, and said that the conservative, sub-
stantial people of Los Angeles were utterly indifferent what
site was chosen for the harbor, provided it was built some-
where near that city.

There had been a great outcry among the party leaders
and by the press of the country generally against the extrav-
agance of the River and Harbor Bill, as it came from the
House. It was supposed that the Senate would proceed to
cut it down, and on that account no one, outside of the circle
of Senators and Representatives who were engineering the
scheme, had any idea that the $3,000,000 item would be
restored either for Santa Monica or for San Pedro. Mr.
White was hopeful that the $392,000 for the inner harbor
at San Pedro might be put back in the bill, but even that
was doubtful. It presently developed, however, that Mr.
Huntington's influence in the Senate Committee on Com-
merce was quite as strong as it was in the House Com-
mittee on Rivers and Harbors, or that it covered at least
a fair working majority. The expression "Mr. Hunting-
ton's influence" is used advisedly, for the official majority
report of the committee practically admits that its action
was based on that gentleman's views and wishes. To be
sure, it does not call him by name, but the meaning is clear
enough.

Nine members of the committee, under the leadership of
Mr. Frye, the chairman, voted to restore the Santa Monica
item of $3,098,000 to the bill; six voted against it, and of
the latter two were opposed to giving so large an ap-
propriation to any place in that vicinity, by reason
of the depleted condition of public funds. Mr. White
fought manfully against this proceeding, but to no
avail. Argument was useless where votes were controlled
by outside forces. At last, failing in his effort to divert the

152 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

appropriation for a deep-sea liarbor from Santa Monica to
San Pedro, Mr. White proposed that a new commission
should be appointed, and that its action should be made ab-
solutely final by the device of appropriating the money in
advance to go to whichever place should receive the de-
cision. He appealed to the sense of fairness, to the honor
and decency of the majority to grant this provision. "You
cannot refuse so reasonable a demand," he said. But they
did refuse. Their one and only purpose and desire was to
give the appropriation to Mr. Huntington's site, and they
were not to be turned aside by any form of argument or
appeal.

When the bill emerged from the committee, it carried
a majority and a minority report. The former was signed
by the nine friends of Santa Monica. They were : Frye of
Maine, Gorman of Maryland, Jones of Nevada, Elkins of
West Virginia, Quay of Pennsylvania, Murphy of New
York, McMillan of Michigan, McBride of Oregon and
Squire of Wisconsin.

The majority report on the Santa Monica item was a
brief document, containing about 150 words. It would
seem that a proposition so extraordinary — the appropria-
tion of so large a sum at such a time for a locality that had
been ruled against by the engineering authorities of the gov-
ernment, and which was opposed by all the Representa-
tives from the State, both the Senators and by nearly all
the people of the adjacent district — called for a good
deal of explaining, but the majority had very little to
say. They could count the votes in the committee and Mr.
Huntington's lobby assured them that a majority of the
Senate could be relied upon, and they were content.

The report, therefore, merely states that a board had been
appointed in 1891 which had reported in favor of San
Pedro, and another in 1893, which had reported in favor of
San Pedro. It then proceeds as follows, and this language
which we quote constitutes practically all of the report :

It was stoutly contended by persons having large interests

' in the commerce of the Pacific coast and familiar with the

[local conditions, that the opinion expressed by the board

[of '93] was erroneous, that to act in accordance with it

would be a waste of money; and in the River and Harbor

THE TWO REPORTS. 153

;act of 1894 no appropriation for a harbor at either place
I was made.

While considering the bill herewith submitted, exhaustive
I hearings were given by your committee to parties represent-
ing both sides of this vexed question, including prominent
(engineers, both civil and military, and a conclusion was
1 reached, in accordance with which a provision has been in-
I serted for constructing a breakwater at Santa Monica.

These "exhaustive hearings" to which the committee re-
fers and on which it proposed to discredit the judgment of
the two boards of army engineers, based on months of study
and research, consisted in a few speeches made by Los An-
geles citizens, and the testimony of Messrs. Hood and
Corthell, Southern Pacific engineers!

The minority report bore the names of Nelson of Min-
nesota, Caffery of Louisiana, Pasco of Florida, Vest of
Missouri, Berry of Arkansas and White of California. It
is a document which, if given in full, would consume one-
third of this volume. It covers the ground thoroughly,
showing the iniquity of the proposed appropriation, and sup-
plying ample reasons why, if the money was to be spent, it
should go to San Pedro.

\Vhen the item was reached in the Senate consideration of
the report, which occurred May 8, 1896, Mr. White offered
an amendment striking out the appropriation for Santa
Monica and proposing instead the appropriation of $3,098,-
000 to go either to Santa Monica or to San Pedro, as might
be decided by a special Board of Engineers, one of which
Board should be an officer of the United States Navy, with
a rank of not less than commander, to be appointed by the
Secretary of the Navy, one a member of the Corps of En-
gineers of the United States Army, to be selected by the Sec-
retary of War, and one a member of the Coast Geodetic
Survey, to be selected by the Superintendent of the Sur^'ey.
Provision was made by the amendment that if the decision
went to Santa Monica :

"No expenditure of any part of the money hereby appro-
ipriated shall be made until the Southern Pacific Company,
! or the owner or owners thereof, shall execute an agreement
) and file the same with the Secretary of War that any rail-
Iroad company may equally share with the said owner or
1 owners in the use of the pier now constructed on the site of

154 THE FRI'<E HARBOR CONTEST.

j said harbor and the approaches thereto situated westerly of
I the easterly entrance to the Santa Monica tunnel upon pay-
I ing its proportionate part of the cost of that portion of the
' same used by such railroad company and its proportionate
> part of the expense of maintenance of the particular part of

I said approaches and pier so used, to be determined by the
' Secretary of War in case of disagreement between the
j parties."

On this amendment Mr. White spoke, consuming such
time as was allotted to the consideration of the River and
Harbor Bill,, during the two days. May 9th and loth. His
speech began with the following sentences :

Mr. President, the question presented by the amendment
! which I have offered, and necessarily involved in the report
) of the committee, is of great local importance to those whom

I I in part represent, and it is of national importance on more
) than one account. In the first place, the United States are
(necessarily interested in everything pertaining to harbor
i improvements. This follows as a matter of course. Then
I the government is also interested in seeing that appropria-
I tions made by the Congress of the United States by means
[of a River and Harbor bill are made for public purposes,
jand that the diversion of the funds of the government is
jnot accomplished through private channels or for personal
i ends.

The Senator then displayed maps of the two harbors and
the surrounding country, and gave a complete description of
their physical features. He then stated the issue as follows :

The questions before the Senate may be summarized thus :
i First, is it necessary that we should have an outer harbor at
[all? Second, if .so.should that outer harbor be located at
I San Pedro or should it be fixed at Santa Monica ?

Mr. President, if it be conceded that the selection at San
\ Pedro, as contended by my distinguished nautical friend the
[chairman of the committee [Mr. Frye], is not well located,
[ and that the government is not warranted in making the
I expenditure at that point, the question still remains, will the
[government be justified in making the expenditure at the
' point designated in the bill ?

Mr. White then told of the appointment of the two boards
of 1891 and 1893, and summarized their reports. This

WHITE ANALYZES THE SITUATION. 155

brought him to the existing situation with reference to the
$3,cx50,ooo appropriation, which he handled as follows :

I wish to call the attention of the Senate to what I con-
isider an extraordinar}- feature of the case — a peculiar fea-
I ture of the controversy. It is and would ,be in any instance
I rather singular that the Congress of the United States should
I find it necessary to make an appropriation of public money
I in the face of the desire of local representatives, and it is

• almost impossible that such a condition of things can ever

• exist unless there is some uncommon influence not usually
I applicable and not generally brought into exercise.

Let us examine this situation. In the report of the com-
Imittee, from which I have read the general synopsis, we
I find the following :

"It was stouth' contended by persons having large in-
Jterests in the commerce of the Pacific coast and familiar
I with the local conditions that the opinion expressed by the
I board was erroneous : that to act in accordance with it
I would be a waste of money."

The opinions thus expressed were the expressions of the
I Southern Pacific Railroad Company, and that persistency
' which has been referred to has been and is the persistency,
' the potential persistenc^^ of that company. I recognize the
» right of every man to proceed upon proper lines to gain all
I grants from Congress which his eloquence and skill, his ar-
) guments and persuasion, may be able to obtain, but I do not

• recognize the right of such person to control me without
I some argument demonstrating that the appropriation of this
I large amount of money in defiance of official recommenda-
I tion is for the public interest.

Let me go a step further in the history of this matter.
', I desire the Senate and every member of it to understand
I the situation, and so understanding it, if members of this
I body are willing to take the responsibility of voting away
I $3,098,000 it is their affair, not mine. But I shall give the
; facts as I know them, and I shall state nothing that I do not
'belicAe to be true, and I shall gladly correct any statements
[ which I niay discover to be unfounded.

\Mien the present Congress convened, the situation of this
i matter was briefly as I shall state it. Nothing had been
I done upon the report of the Board of Engineers and no ap-
j propriation had been made. In the meantime Colonel Ben-
lyaurd had devised the project for the improvement of the
'inner harbor to which I have referred. I called for that

156 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

J project, which was filed away in the War Department by
I resolution which passed the Senate at the close of the last
I session. The report of Colonel Behyaurd was thereafter
I incorporated in the official records of the Chief of Engineers,
J and when the River and Harbor bill came before the com-
I mittee of the House for consideration, I appeared there and
' so also did my colleague, and the distinguished member of
> the House already referred to was likewise there. We pre-
I sented our claims for the further improvement of the inner
I harbor at San Pedro or Wilmington — I use the words in-
1 discriminately — the Benyaurd project, against which there
I was, so far as we knew or now know, no disclosed objection.
I stated there, as others did, that in view of the depleted
I condition of the Treasury, and because we deemed it wholly
I unlikely that Congress would care to embark in so expensive
I a work as a three-million-dollar outer harbor at this time,
I we should be satisfied if we were given a continuing contract
; for the inner harbor at San Pedro, involving the $392,000.
I We left. Nothing more was heard by me of this affair until

I learned indirectly that a provision had been printed in the
I draft of the river and harbor bill for two million eight hun-
I dred and odd thousand dollars for a harbor at Santa Monica
' or Port Los Angeles, and that $392,000 had also, it was ru-
I mored, been appropriated for San Pedro..

Thus I discovered that to some extent my State occupied
! a higher plane than that upon which other Commonwealths

have been in the habit of treading; that while there were
! some who were forced to solicit appropriations and to make
! arguments to obtain the same, in my instance such favors
I came not only unsolicited but unwanted.
Mr. Gray. Thrust on you.
Mr. White. However, a great local disturbance arose

in Los Angeles. As shown by the hearings printed by the

Committee on Commerce, a telegram was sent to Los An-
I geles stating that if the people there would unite they could
; have the inner harbor at San Pedro, but they must take it
I with the outer harbor at Santa Monica.
Mr. George. Who sent that telegram ?
Mr. White. The Representative. I will refer to the page
; in a moment. The result of it all was that the River and
I Harbor Committee dropped the whole matter, leaving only
I an appropriation of $50,000 for the inner harbor at San

Pedro on the Benyaurd proposition and no continuing con-
i tract at all. Indeed, my State was not honored with any
I continuing contract in the bill as it came to this end of the

A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. 157

Capitol. When the measure reached the Committee on
1 Commerce the fight was renewed.

I neglected to say that the River and Harbor Committee
I had the benefit (not in my presence, however) of the testi-
[ mony of Messrs. Corthell and Hood, whose views have been
! published by the House. The combat was thence trans-
I ferred to the Senate. Upon a day fixed by common consent
I representatives from the State of California were brought
I here, business men, persons of standing and integrity, who

represented both sides of the question. Some of those
[gentlemen (and their evidence is in the hearings here)
I argued in favor of Santa Monica and some in favor of San
I Pedro.

Petitions were filed; telegrams without number were re-
i cived. One of my constituents stated to me, "Let us have
I the appropriation, even if it is to go to Arroyo Seco,"
I which means "dry creek." The impression prevailed in the
('community that there was an opportunity to get $3,000,000,
I and some thought it was useless to longer make a fight for
1 San Pedro, where the vast majority of the people wanted the
I harbor. Sooner than lose the appropriation for the inner
I harbor, and this large amount of money promised to be dis-
|bursed in the locality, they were willing to locate a harbor

I anywhere.
Of course that did not represent the universal sentiment.

I I may say the record here shows a telegram signed by some
> two or three hundred of the leading business men of Los An-
I geles insisting upon my advocacy of both appropriations
I for San Pedro. But if I had not received that telegram L
1 should not have changed my position. It cannot alter my
[attitude standing here in the discharge of a public duty
I merely because a vote of mine is to prevent the expenditure
1 of money in my locality. If I know that the expenditure is
1 not to be made in the public interest — that it is sought for a
[private purpose — I will not vote for it. Were I outside of
I official life, selfishness, which dominates many of us, and to
I some extent influences us all, might perhaps lead me to ap-
jplaud an act which would involve local disbursement of
; such an elaborate sum. But I could not find myself author-
'ized, and do not deem myself empowered, to appropriate
I bne cent unless I find it to be for a public purpose and for
I the public interest.

Mr. White then took up the question of the holding
ground at San Pedro, and showed by the testimony of over

J58 THE FREE HARBOR; CONTEST.

forty ship masters the fallacy of the objections that had been
urged by Mr. Hood and Mr. Huntington. He discussed at
some length the monopoly feature of the Santa Monica site,
showing the difficulty that would beset other roads than
the Southern Pacific, seeking an entrance to that harbor. He
also answered Mr. Corthell's theory of the littoral currents,
commenting quizzically on the intelligent discrimination of
a current which would carry sand to the west while it car-
ried lumber, coal and dead bodies to the east. The conclud-
ing paragraphs of his speech are as follows :

Mr. President, what is the amendment which I have in-
i troduced and upon which I ask a vote ? What is the propo-
sition which I make to the Senate regarding the subject?
The gist of the matter is the making of an appropriation and
I the expenditure of the money at either San Pedro or Port
Los Angeles, the location to be determined by a board con-
I sisting of an officer of the United States Navy, of rank not
less than commander, to be appointed by the Secretary of
I the Navy ; a merpber of the Corps of Engineers of the United
States Army, to be selected by the Secretary of War, and a
; member of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, to be selected by
; the Superintendent of the Survey.

Now, I ask those who are disposed to be fair, who wish
I this important subject determined accurately, what objection
; can be rationally made to this plan. An objection might,
I indeed, be urged upon the part of those who advocate San
Pedro and who are interested on the part of the govern-
• ment in the disbursement of public moneys, upon the ground
I that two boards have already reported against Santa Monica,
I and therefore it may be said that we are going too far in
': selecting a third tribunal when we have two positive reports
! made by competent persons. In offering the amendment I
; do not in the slightest degree impugn the motive, question
; the integrity, or doubt the capacity of the eight distinguished
; gentlemen who have passed upon this subject. I believe
; that as to the location of the harbor their views are correct.
; I have entire confidence in the accuracy of their positions,
but a majority of the Commerce Committee and several
Senators who affirm that they have thought about this sub-
I ject for seven or eight years announce that the engineers are
wrong; that the boards are mistaken; that these eight im-
I partial, honest servants of the government are all misin-
formed; that among these eight scientific men of integrity

A PLEA FOR FAIRNESS. 159

I there was not one competent to pass judgment or able to
; reach the true conclusion.

Let me ask those who oppose mj'^ view, why object to the
'appointment of a skilled and unbiased commission to pass
I upon the subject ? If he be not satisfied with that which has
ibeen done, if it be contended that the action of previous
I boards must be disregarded, can we not find some one some-
I where to whom we will be willing to commit this subject?
I \\ ill Senators who have no more knowledge of the situation
I than that derived from the cursory and scattered hearings
1 before the committee pretend to tell me that they know
I absolutely and conclusively that these eight officers of the
! government were wrong, and that they are so satisfied of this
I that they want no more light; that the glorious radiance
; flashing from the information which they have received here
; renders the advent of other knowledge impossible ? That
[the limit of intellectual absorption has been attained? Is
' this the position ? AVill anyone admit that he is unwilling
' to lay this matter before a competent, impartial board ?
I Yes ; the advocates of Santa Monica must so concede. They
I will not consent to the submission of their pretensions to any
I person or officer. They say in effect by this refusal that no
I board will report in favor of their location. They decline
I to submit their arguments to competent scrutiny. Why?
Not because they think their success possible. They would
1 not then refuse. They decline, because — and there is no
I other deduction possible from their conduct — ^they know
I that no impartial and competent tribunal will decide in their
favor. They fear fairness.

Is the constitution of the proposed board objected to?
I If so, why not suggest improvement ? I and those who are
; contending in conjunction with me are prepared to do that
; which is honest and equitable. Is it possible to form any
' commission to constitute any board to which the majority of
'the committee will be willing to submit? Evidently it is
'not possible. Mr. President, you cannot find, you cannot
; devise, you cannot suggest any tribunal, any board, any
'committee, any qualified person or persons to whom this
i discretion will be committed by my friends of the opposition.
iThey rest in seciirity upon the theory that Senators are
1 ready to vote against the report of the government engineers
I and against everything official, are willing to appropriate in
Ithe face of authoritative condemnation, and they do not
I therefore propose to risk any board.

i6o THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

You refuse to recommit for examination; you decline to
' subject it to candid investigation, but it is proposed to boldly
j overturn and cast aside the suggestions of those to whose
I recommendation we should at least award decent considera-
I tion, and to substitute therefor the conclusions of employees
' of Mr. Huntington and to enable them to place at his feet a
great winning made from the government of the United
I States.

If the advocates of Santa Monica believe that they have
I the meritorious side, then let them face a commission chosen

I upon impartial lines. With the judgment of such a board

I I shall be content. Until some fair, competent, and disinter-
! ested man, appointed according to law, has determined that
I this appropriation is justifiable, I shall continue to oppose it
' and raise my voice against it, even though I stand alone.

Senator Berry followed Mr. White in a strong speech,
devoted mainly to the expenditure of government money in
behalf of a private interest without warrant from the en-
gineering authorities. Senator Vest spoke, defining his po-
sition, which was in opposition to so large an appropriation
at that time for either site. Senator Perkins delivered an
effective address, dealing with the navigation questions that
were involved, on which he was specially competent to speak
by reason of wide acquaintance with the topic and a long
personal experience as a ship master on the Pacific Coast.
His plea for San Pedro carried great weight.

The only speaker on the Santa Monica side was Mr. Frye,
although Senator Stewart of Nevada, in his cross-question-
ing of Mr. Perkins, gave some aid to that cause.

Senator Frye's speech occupied the greater part of a day,
and was an able presentation of a rather awkward case. The
following passages wiU give some idea of the tenor of his
argument :

Here (indicating the Port Los Angeles location on the
'map) is the proposed breakwater to protect the ships in the
1 inside. It is about a mile and one-third from the shore.
; It is about 8400 feet long. It includes inside of it an area
I of about 555 acres of deep water, which will accommodate
; about 222 deep draft vessels at anchor. Every inch inside is
[ excellent holding ground, being mud and gravel. It is ab-
[ solutely protected by a range of mountains over a thousand
feet high from the north winds, the northeast and the north-

MR. FRYE'S ARGUMENT.

i6i

,west winds. It is absolutely protected on the other side by
jthe highlands from every southeast wind. The dangerous
[ wind of the Pacific coast is that from the southeast. There
I is no great fear of the other, except occasionally a heavy
I southwest gale. This bay is absolutely protected from every-
[ thing except the southwest wave line, as it is called, and the
(westerly winds. . . .

Somebody wished to know where you could place the
i wharf in San Pedro, and I assure the Senators it is a very

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SENATOR GEORGE C. PERKINS.

; serious question. Here is the Southern Pacific railroad, "that
[horrible instrument of injury to the country," running
' right along here and out to this point (indicating). This is
J a very high bluff (indicating), I should say 6o or 70 feet
' high, rocky and perpendicular. The waves of the ocean are
nearly all the time dashing up against it at the foot. Where
are you going to put your wharves ? \\niere will you locate

1 62 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

' them ? The second Board of Engineers said that you
I could make a dozen in some way or other — it would be very
> expensive for this railroad-^by running your railroad out
I on the breakwater, and then attaching your wharves to it.

Now, is not that conclusive proof that the second board
I did not know that the southwest wave line accompanied a
I southeast shore wind ? Have not Senators here seen the
[power of waves on the Pacific when they came sweeping
I in across the sea over water that is 300 fathoms deep within
1 three miles from the shore and strike that breakwater 10 feet
I up out of the water? How long would a railroad track
I stand on the top of that breakwater ? How long would a
I ship lying by the wharves stay there ? Those waves would
J break over that breakwater from 40 to 50 feet high, and, as
Ja woman would sweep with a broom the dust from the
I ground, sweep away your railroads and your railroad tracks
I and completely submerge every vessel lying by the wharves
; attached to the breakwater

Now, to a certain extent this is a railroad fight. The
•Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Berry)' thinks it is a fearful
< thing for a Senator to be on the side of a great railroad and
) a "greedy monopoly." I have never seen anything more
I greedy in my experience than this little Terminal railroad.
I It is about 40 miles long. What is it there for ? It was
! built there after the first report of the Board of Engineers.
I Under the first report of the Board of Engineers there were
1 certain gentlemen who thought they saw a chance for a spec-
1 ulation

There is room at Santa Monica for twelve tracks, for ten
[ more tracks. Any other railroad can get in just as easily as
I the Southern Pacific Company did. Mr. Huntington said
I he would build the tracks for them for $10,000 a mile, and
I this bill provides that they should use his wharf if they desire
; to do so

We have heard talk about corruption and bribery, but in
I this there is more bribery from the good feeling which ex-
I ists between Senators than from any and every other cause
I known to man. I think that we yield our preferences and
I our wishes to Senators when no amount of money and no
I amount of honor would induce us to do it under any circum-
I stances, and I admit that I am one of the yielding kind,
for while it has been charged in Los Angeles that I am
( owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad I would rather have
ithe kindly regard of these Senators I am addressing, and

FRYE'S VISIT TO SAN PEDRO. 163

I their confidence, than the support of all the railroads and
' railroad magnates on the face of the earth, and all the money
I that all of them possess. The Examiner said that if I suc-
I ceeded in getting Santa Monica adopted as a harbor my
I pockets would be lined with gold, a happy way they have of
[talking about public men, sir, in your State, Mr. White;
! pleasant and agreeable compliments they pay us — a high es-
\ timate they make of us

In my experience with river and harbor bills, wherever
I a majority of the committee wish to overrule the army en-
I gineers, that majority does it without the slightest compunc-
[ tion of conscience.

A board of army engineers made its report, and I declare
I that never in a single instance did the first board of army en-

> gineers or the second board of army engineers, either one of
I them, condemn Santa Monica as a harbor, and no condemna-
I tion of it can be found in their report. They simply ex-

> pressed a preference for San Pedro and gave their reasons,
» and the most prominent reason was that it was better adapted
» to fortifications than was Santa Monica

When the report was made to us in our Committee of
! Commerce, we considered the matter, and determined not
; to appropriate for a harbor at San Pedro at that time.
; Shortly afterwards I went out there. Now, the Senator
from California [Mr. White] alluded to the "distinguished
navigator from Maine," and his visit to San Pedro some-
; what sarcastically; but I'll forgive him. I will say, never-
; theless, I went out there. I do know something about har-
' bors. I have common sense, I think; what they call in New
'< England "horse sense"; and I have looked over a great many
! harbors in my life. I am able to form a general judgment.
• l think I could tell, looking at that picture (indicating),
1 which was the better place for a harbor; and I pity the Sen-
1 ator who could not. I went down there on that bluff (indi-
I eating) at San Pedro.

Who took me there? The Southern Pacific owned me
I then, of course, because the president of the Southern Pacific
I railroad took me there, and he had about a dozen of his
Southern Pacific officers with him. Senator Stanford was
; urging the necessity of an appropriation, stating that it was
; vital to their railroad, that it was vital to the interests of
I commerce, that a great commerce would spring up there if
'they only had a safe harbor. I stood on that bluff (indi-
» eating), about seventy feet high, the bluff running down

i64 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

('straight, rocky, and looked out into this proposed harbor.
I About th^ first question I asked the Senator — there was only
I a slight breeze blowing that was southerly, and the little
I waves were rushing up against the rocky side of this bluff
)upon which I stood — I asked the Senator which was the
! troublesome wind there. He said it was the southeasterly
I wind. "If your bad wind is- the southeasterly wind," I
! said, "Senator, how is that harbor, which looks right into
I the southeast, going to be protected ? How are ships going
i to be protected ? Where are you going to put your wharf ?"
! He said they were going to put a wharf — Senators can per-
I haps see the little point running out there about half an inch
[along the right side of that picture (indicating) — there, in-
] side of that breakwater. "But," said I, "my dear Senator,
• that wharf will not stay there at all. The southeast wind
I will take that wharf off" — Senators can see the line there

(indicating) — "and any vessel that lies there."
Shortly afterwards they went to work on that wharf.
I They spent several hundred thousand dollars in building
I it, and got it out perhaps a hundred or a hundred and fifty
1 feet, when they concluded that it was money thrown away
! and gave it up. Whether I am a "navigator" or not, I made
I up my mind very deliberately then that a safe harbor at San

Pedro was an impossibility on account of the southeast
i winds.

The next day I went up to Santa Monica; I think it was

Saturday; and for two days I enjoyed the gracious hospi-
) tality of one of the pleasantest homes which I ever visited in
I my life. The host was so much of a gentleman that he
I never mentioned harbor to me. But on Sunday, having
I nothing to do, I went prospecting on harbor business. I
I looked off onto Santa Monica bay right from a high bluff ;
1 right up here (indicating). Here is Santa Monica. I was
[ right here on this bluff, and looked out into this beautiful
I bay. It was a still day, and the bay looked like a lake.
[ I thought I never had seen in my life a better place made
I by the Almighty for a harbor than that was. It seemed
[ to be absolutely perfect. No northeast wind, no north wind,
I no southeast wind, no southwest wind could touch it; it was
I a remarkably well-protected resting-place, and it did not
I need a great expenditure to make it absolutely safe, so it
I seemed to me. I have never divested myself of that first
I opinion, which I formed then, notwithstanding the reports
I of two boards of army engineers; and the other board,
1 which is proposed now, if it should come to the same con-

MR. WHITE REPLIES. 165

j elusion, would leave me in precisely the same spot. That
may seem like obstinacy, but it is a deep, well-fixed judg-
(ment of my own.

Mr. White's reply was filled with good-natured satire on
the attitude taken by Senator Frye as an authority on navi-
gation and harbor engineering:

The Senator from Maine, while disclaiming engineering
I attainments, seems to think that I was reflecting up on him
j in some way when I spoke of him as a navigator. I did
I think that the Senator from Maine was possessed of much
j nautical knowledge; but if I was in error I will withdraw
jthe remark. [Laughter.] But while the Senator from
j Maine disclaims familiarity with technical matters he in-
I forms us that anyone can see the conclusive merits of his ar-
jgument by a mere glance at his map. Those of the most
I ordinary intellectual development must see that he is right.
This is his faith, and he docs not hesitate to set up his non-
] professional judgment against those who have been em-
I ployed by the government to pass upon this subject. He
I not only relies upon himself against skilled authority, but he
[ tells us that as there is one chance in ten of a decision in
I favor of San Pedro he will vote against the amendment
) which I offer. This is more conciliation.

Mr. President, the amendment which I have advocated
I involves the appointing of a commission of admittedly un-
i biased and impartial men to determine between these two lo-
I cations — San Pedro and Santa Monica. What is the ob-
' jection to this ? The Senator from Maine says that pos-
[ sibly there might be a decision for San Pedro — only one
i chance out of ten, he declares. But this is quite enough.
' No impartial experts who choose San Pedro can, according
I to his view, be relied on. No impartial or other board for
I him. What does he want ? He demands the power to
I personally solve this dispute his own way.

The struggle which I have made here may seem stubborn
I to some, but it is maintained in the consciousness and belief
) that I am acting for the public interest. No demagogical
i appeal — notwithstanding intimations to the contrary — has
] influenced or ever will influence me. I have been as able
] as the Senator from Maine to maintain myself in my conser-
I vative methods without condescending to belittlement. I
j experience natural pride in my presence here, but I would
willingly sacrifice that honor rather than yield my maturely
formed judgment to any senseless clamor, to threats or

1 66

THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

j flattery, to condemnation or applause, and I might say, Mr.
I President, that I would rather be a lawyer whose word was
) as good as the rich man's bond, and whose opinion upon an
I intricate question of judicial science was valued by the mas-
i ter minds of my profession, than to hold in my hand all the
I honors that ever were won by appeals to the passions and
) prejudices of men.

UNCLE COLLIS MEETS AN OBSTACLE.
(Cartoon in the "Times", March, 1896.)

As the debate progressed, occupying almost the entire
time of the Senate for five days of a busy session, a great
deal of space was given to the Santa Monica-San Pedro topic
by the newspapers. The leading journals of the country

A COMPROMISE IS REACHED. 167

discussed the issue editorially, and it may be added that they
were unanimously on the San Pedro side. Many of the cor-
respondents took an active personal interest in the fight —
Van Alstine, Bierce, Brown, Wellman, McLeod and others —
and their reports were most effective in holding indifferent
votes in line and demoralizing the Santa Monica end of the
contest. Senators of the United States are very great men,
but they nevertheless read pretty carefully the utterances of
the leading newspapers, and seriously incline toward their
views. Every day of the debate strengthened the San Pedro
line, because in the opinion of the public generally that
side was right and the other wrong. At last the pressure
came too strong even for Mr. Frye. Mr. White's repeated
taunt, that he dare not refer the question to a competent, un-t
prejudiced board, struck home. There were frequent con-
ferences between the Senator from Maine and Mr. Hunting-
ton. As various forms of compromises were considered in
the committee. Mr. Frye went back and forth, consulting
first with Mr. Huntington ("your principal," as Mr. White
spoke of him to the Maine Senator with some contempt, and
the latter did not resent it) and then with the committee,
until at last an amendment was passed, which was accept-
able to all concerned. This called for the appointment of a
board of five engineers, one from the Navy, one from the
Coast and Geodetic Survey, and three from civil life, to be
named by the President. The $392,000 for a continuing
contract for San Pedro was restored to the bill, of which
$100,000 was appropriated for immediate use.

The bill then passed to conference, where it encountered
the unfriendly inspection of Mr. Hermann, who at first posi-
tively refused to accept the proposed compromise. Possibly
Mr. Huntington had changed his mind about the measure,
and had decided to oppose it, even after Mr. Frye had put
it forward with his authority, or perhaps Mr. Hermann was
proceeding on his own volition to stand out against any plan
that might at last give the money to San Pedro. It was
just at the end of the session. Both Houses had completed
their work, and were waiting for the report of the conferees.
Several days passed. Congress meeting each day and ad-
journing over to the next. At last it began to leak out that
it was the Santa Monica-San Pedro item which was causing

1 68 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

all the delay, and that strenuous efforts were being put forth
by Mr. Hermann to have it thrown out of the bill entirely.
Whereupon Representative James G. Maguire, of San Fran-
cisco, who had been an uncompromising friend of San Pedrc
from the very beginning, went to the members of the com-
mittee and threatened to call the matter up in the House the
next day, and expose what was going on, unless the com-
promise was allowed to stand. This brought Mr. Hermann
to terms, and the bill was reported unchanged, except for a
provision that if the deep-water harbor went to San Pedro by
the decision of the Board, the $392,000 was not to be spent
there. In this form the bill passed both Houses. It was
vetoed by President Cleveland, on the ground that the treas-
ury was not prepared to meet such enormous expenditures,
but was promptly passed over his veto and became a law.

CHAPTER XVII.
One More Final Decision.

THERE was great rejoicing in Los Angeles when the
, news came of the passage of the River and Harbor
Bill containing the deep-water harbor appropriation, and
the provision for the appointment of a Board to designate
where the work should be done.* When Senator White re-
turned home a few weeks later, a special train went out to
meet him containing several hundred of his friends and ad-
mirers. The cars were decorated with flags and flowers, and
as the train passed through the neighboring cities great
crowds were gathered at the station to cheer the man who
had made a brave fight for the people, for so it was regarded.
At Los Angeles a parade was formed to act as Mr. White's
escort from the depot to a place where a public reception was
to take place. There was no element of political partisan-
ship in the gathering — indeed, Republicans were more nu-
merous and active than Democrats.

It might be well to add in this connection that when Sen-
ator Perkins visited Los Angeles some months later, al-
though it was in the midst of a Presidential campaign and
his mission was to make a political speech on the Repub-
lican side, a similar reception was tendered him, and in this

* For full text of the law, see Appendix.

WAS IT TO BE FINAL? 169

the Democrats were given a chance to reciprocate, and they
accepted it handsomely. The issue which had so long di-
vided the people of Los Angeles was in no sense a political
one, and the conflict had been so fierce and so determined
that an ordinary Presidential campaign seemed almost tame
in comparison.

It was a curious and perhaps significant fact that the re-
joicing at the outcome was chiefly from the San Pedro side.
For the fourth time now, the matter of the harbor location
had been submitted to a commission for "final" settlement.
When Gen. Alexander and Col. Mendell had looked the
ground over in 1869, before the government had expended
one dollar on a harbor for Los Angeles, they selected San
Pedro. Twenty-one years later they were followed by a
Board, consisting of the army engineers, Mendell, Gillespie
and Benyaurd, who returned the same verdict. Then came
a few years after the Craighill Board with the same de-
cision, and now that a fourth body was to go over the ground
the people made no question that the result would be the
same — another finding for San Pedro. There was this dif-
ference, however, between the new Board and its prede-
cessors ; the latter had been appointed to decide on a location
for which Congress might or might not make the necessary
appropriation; but the Board that was now to be named
had the money already in hand, and was merely to desig-
nate where it was to be spent. It seemed reasonably certain
that this was a form of decision that must actually decide.

There were plenty of doubters, however. "Uncle will con-
trive some way to open it up again," said they. "He never
would have accepted the compromise, unless there was a
joker in it. White is a clever fellow, but the Southern Pa-
cific has overreached him, as it does everybody." A year
later, when Secretary of War Alger succeeded in hanging
up the appropriation for nine months, these people made the
most of their chance to say, "I told you so."

A more serious cause for question lay in the possible ap-
pointment on the Board of men who might be influenced
by other considerations than those of the real merit of
the contending sites. It was evident that the appointees must
be men of the highest character and standing, to avoid the
chance for scandal. An appropriation of $50,000, or such

I70 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

part as might be needed, for the expenses of the Board, made
it possible to secure men of eminence in the profession to fill
the places that were open to engineers from private life.
It is difficult, perhaps impossible, for a man to attain high
rank in that profession without the possession of a corre-
spondingly high character; and there was good reason to
believe that the men who were chosen would be above re-
proach.

The bill passed early in June, 1896, and the appointments
were made in the following October. These were : From
the navy. Rear Admiral John G. Walker; from the coast sur-
vey, Augustus F. Rodgers, and from civil life, appointed by
President Cleveland, William H. Burr, George S. Morrison
and Richard P. Morgan.

These appointments were all — save one — received with
satisfaction and confidence. Rear Admiral Walker, who was
chairman of the Board, was a man of mature years, with
wide experience in navigation hiatters, and his character
was above possible question. He has since then served with
distinction at the head of the commission appointed by Con-
gress to report on the Nicaragua canal project. His name,
serving as the title of the board that was now to settle the
question of Santa Monica or San Pedro, once and for all, was
in itself almost a guarantee that the decision would be just
and honorable. Of Professor Rodgers, the representative
of the Coast Survey, and of Messrs. Morrison and Burr,
nothing but favorable reports were heard. Each stood well in
his profession and was believed to be incorrtiptible. But
the last name, Richard Price Morgan, was received with
doubt and surprise. It was known that he had at one time
done the Southern Pacific an important service, and that
his son was now in the employ of that road. There were
also other objections to him, offered by those who professed
to be familiar with his career. A protest was at once filed
with President Cleveland by Senator White, who declared
the appointment to be entirely unsuitable. Mr. Cleveland
then addressed a letter to Mr. Morgan, and it is said by
those who have seen a copy of the letter that it was plainly
intended to "draw" the latter's resignation, or in the event
that it failed of that purpose, to give him to understand the
nature of the doubts regarding him, and to put him, so to

THE WALKER BOARD MEETS. 171

speak, on his best behavior. Mr. Morgan did not resign, but
served with the Board. He did not Hve at the same hotel
with the other members, however, nor go with them on
any of the little pleasure trips which they took about the
country, during their leisure, nor did he fraternize with them
— or shall we say they with him ?— in any way. In the end,
he brought in a minority report, containing some very pe-
culiar matter.

The public sessions of the Walker Board, at the Cham-
ber of Commerce, began December 21, 1896, and lasted
through seven days. Prior to that time the Board had spent
some weeks studying the technical features of the question,
from charts and maps and other data of the Coast Survey.
The "Gedney" of the Coast Survey was placed at their dis-
posal by the government, and two months were spent in a
thorough, practical investigation of the harbor sites. All
soundings were taken anew and fresh charts were prepared.
Borings were made all along the lines of the proposed break-
waters and at intervals through the harbors. Faithful and
thorough work was done, and not a possible chance was
left open for the claim put forward by Messrs. Hood and
Corthell, and by Senator Frye, with regard to the former
boards, that the investigation was superficial.

The Southern Pacific, or Port Los Angeles side of the
case, was managed by Mr. Hood, assisted by Mr. Corthell.
The latter detailed his theory of sand currents at San Pedro
and stated the manifold advantages of Port Los Angeles, as
he saw them. Mr. Hood repeated his objections to San
Pedro in much the same form as he had given them to the
Craighill Board and to the Senate Committee, except that
on this occasion he admitted that the holding ground at San
Pedro was good. Captains Pillsbury, Salmond, Johnson
and Dornfield testified to the excellence of Port Los Angeles
as a safe landing for ships, and Division Superintendent
J. A. Muir and A. M. Jamison, of the Southern Pacific, sup-
plied some important details for the Santa Monica side of
the case. Mr. J. S. Slauson and ex-.Senator Cornelius Cole
were also heard on that side.

The San Pedro case was under the management of Mr.
John F. Francis and Mr. Henry Hawgood, who repre-
sented the Free Harbor League, and Mr. T. E. Gibbon and

172 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

Mr. Robert Moore, who represented the Terminal. The
technical side of the matter was presented by Mr. Hawgood
and Mr. Moore. The navigation features were described
by Captains Weldt, Polhamus, Smith and A. J. Johnson.
Mr. Patterson presented the views of the League, in the
form of a petition frorri business men representing over
$15,000,000 of capital, which set forth the conviction of the
signers that the commercial interests of the section would be
best subserved by the selection of San Pedro, for the reason
that that harbor would be "free to all railways that may
desire to enter, an advantage that cannot be enjoyed at any
other point now under discussion."

There is an element of grim sarcasm in the sentence with
which the petition filed by Mr. Patterson closes :

"As a proof of the sincerity of our position in this matter,
we desire to state that we who sign this petition have not
and will not sign any petition addressed to your board, in
favor of any other locality."

This observation was pointed at the compromisers.

A very complete and concise history of the controversy
from the beginning was presented by Mr. Gibbon, followed
by an argument in favor of the San Pedro location. He
■discussed, in detail, the "monopoly harbor" question, par-
ticularly with reference to the protection afforded compet-
itors of the Southern Pacific by the section of the act which
provided that the Southern Pacific must execute an agree-
ment and file it with the Secretary of War that any railway
company "may share the use of the pier now constructed
at Port Los Angeles and the approaches and tracks lead-
ing thereto," and that any railway company desiring to con-
struct a pier in Santa Monica Bay "may, for the purpose of
approaching sUch wharf or pier and for the purpose of con-
structing and operating the same, cross the track or tracks,
approaches and right-of-way now used by the Southern Pa-
cific, under such regulations as may be prescribed by tha
Secretary of War." Mr. Gibbon's argument on this point
was as follows :

So we have in this harbor a railroad company occupying
] a right-of-way along the whole 8000 feet of the proposed
J front, only half of which is subject to the law with reference
I to joint ownership, but all of which forms approaches to

THE REPORT OF THE BOARD. 173

I wharves which may be run out into any portion of the pro-
I tected area from any part of the frontage. In addition to
I that, this company practically controls all of the land avail-
I able for other purposes, on 2200 feet of the 4400 feet of
I water front, which will enjoy the maximum of protection,
] and such control, outside the narrow right-of-way from the
I tunnel to the pier, is not subject to the provision as to joint

[ ownership So that it is not going beyond

J the bare facts of the case to say that along the whole front
I of this harbor the Southern Pacific has, and will have, in
I spite of the provisions of the law, a superior right with which
no other company can afford or will endeavor to compete.

Very little that was really new and that had not been
covered in some manner by the Craighill Board, was intro-
duced in the public testimony. The report of the Walker
Board was filed March ist, 1897. It is a bulky volume,
containing a quantity of maps and charts and a transcript
of the hearing and a number of documents that bear on the
case. Among the charts are sketches of all the leading har-
bors of the world where artificial breakwaters have been con-
structed. This makes the volume [Document No. 18, 55th
Congress, ist session] one of special value.

The report of the Walker Board begins with a statement
of the law under which it was appointed and a defining of
the work that lies before it :

The act under which this board is appointed provides for
j a deep-water harbor for commerce and of refuge. Under
! the provisions of the law, a deep-water harbor is understood
[ to be a harbor which can be used by vessels of the deepest
[ draft. Merchant vessels drawing from 26 to 28 feet are
I now common, while steamers have been built which, when
fully loaded, will draw 30 feet or even more. In view of
i these facts, it would seem that a deep-water harbor must be
I one which will safely accommodate vessels drawing at least
I 30 feet.

The provision that it must be harbor for commerce is un-
Iderstood to mean that it shall be a harbor in which vessels
'can load and discharge cargoes in convenient proximity to
[suitable facilities for storage and for interchange between
land and water transportation. In many ports of the world
this work is done by the aid of lighters while the ships lie
I at anchor, a slow and expensive method, which can no longer
I be considered satisfactory. A deep-water harbor for com-

174 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

merce should be such that the deepest ships can come along-
side quays or piers, where they can lie quietly during rough
weather to receive and discharge their cargoes, and where
proper facilities for docking and repairs may be afforded.

The provision that it shall be a harbor of refuge is
understood to mean that it shall be a harbor which a-ll
classes of vessels can enter in stress of • weather, without
waiting for tides, and where they can anchor in safety at all
times. The depth of water in the proposed harbor of refuge
must be such that the largest ships can safely ride at
anchor within its limits, swinging over their own anchors
without danger.

The board then presents a technical description of the two
harbors, after which it says :

At neither location can a deep-water harbor that shall
meet the requirements of the law be constructed within the
limits of the present shore line; it can only be made by a
breakwater which will furnish the necessary area of pro-
tected smooth water behind it. At Port Los Angeles this
breakwater must afford protection against southwest seas
and swells, the main exposure being very nearly in the direc-
tion of the heaviest swell. At San Pedro the breakwater
must afford protection from southeast to southwest. As
the breakwater at Port Los Angeles must be some dis-
tance outside the pier, and that at San Pedro some distance
outside of the present harbor entrance, the exposure will be
somtjwhat increased at the breakwaters, this being espe-
cially the case at San Pedro, where a portion of the break-
water must necessarily be beyond the protection of Point
Fermin. So far as can be judged from the evidence placed
before the board, from personal observations, and from the
direction of exposure, the duties which must be performed
by a breakwater at Port Los Angeles would probably be
greater, and the seas which it might have to resist may be
heavier, than would be the case with a breakwater at San
Pedro. In view of the fact, however, that violent storms
and seas are of rare occurrence at either point, it has been
thought right to estimate on the same construction at each
place. At either site a breakwater of lighter section than
would generally be demanded is admissible.

The form and character of the desired breakwater at each
point is next considered. The Board then says :

The character of the holding ground within the protected
area at San Pedro is admitted by all parties to be good. It

THE LOCATIONS COMPARED. 175

! is perhaps in places a little too hard, but not enough so to
form any substantial objection. As a harbor of refuge,
] the area behind this breakwater would seem to meet all rea-
I sonable requirements. It could be used as a harbor for com-
] merce by building out long piers from the shore, as has been
I done at Port Los Angeles. To reach the same depth of water
) these piers would have to be about 3,000 feet longer than
rthe Port Los Angeles pier, but one-half of the length
I would be in shallow water, which could be replaced by a solid
I embankment, the construction being no more expensive in
I character than that of the Southern Pacific railroad between
] Wilmington and San Pedro. The approaches to such piers
j would be practically without grade and immediately ad-
ijacent to the railway tracks now in use, as well as to the
I facilities of the existing inner harbor. The inner harbor,
) however, affords possibilities which may make the construc-
ition of such piers inexpedient

In comparing the two harbors for the purpose of establish-
) ing, as between them, the best location of a deep-water har-
j bor for commerce and of refuge, it is necessary to consider
] not only at which point the best harbor can be made, but at
j which point a harbor, when so made, will be most useful.
] If the location at which the best harbor can be made is also
]the one which will be the most useful, there can be no
I doubt which place should be selected. If a harbor which
) will meet the requirements of the law can only be made at
I one of the two places, that location should undoubtedly be
I chosen. If, however, a harbor can be constructed at each
I point which will meet the requirements of the law, the loca-
tion at which a harbor will be the most useful is the one
I which should be preferred

So far as direct means of exchanging traffic between land
I and water transportation is concerned, San Pedro affords
j greater advantages than Port Los Angeles. Prior to the
) completion of the improvements of the inner harbor, it is
reasonable to assume that one suitably designed timber pier,
I located at a safe distance on either side of the jetty entrance
I and practically carried out to the 5-fathom line, would ac-
1 commodate those vessels whose draft would prevent their en-
l trance to the inner harbor

At Port Los Angeles there is at present no room for the
I storage of cargoes except the coal bunkers on the pier.
! Warehouses can be built on piers, but they would be sub-
Iject to all the risks attendant on pier construction. Land
I can be made for warehouse and other purposes at large ex-

176 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

; pense, between the present shore and three-fathom line, or
I even farther out ; goods to be put in warehouses so located
! must, however, be handled from vessels to cars which will
I run lengthwise on the piers and then unloaded again into
I the warehouses, thus requiring an extra handling. As the
1 handling costs more than the movement, it might be best to
I erect such warehouses at some distance from the piers and
I transport the goods by rail. At San Pedro warehouses or
1 storage yards can be provided back of the bulkhead line for
I the whole length of the harbor, in the most convenient pos-
[sible position for landing and handling cargoes; practically
[ this is done now in the lumber yards in the upper part of the
harbor. In this respect San Pedro has decided advan-

[tages

It is the English practice to have at least one and fre-
iquently several dry docks in every important port. Such
' facilities could be provided near the shore at Port Los An-
Igeles between the piers, and although the ground must be
I made, there would probably be ample room. Much better
I opportunities for works of this class are afforded on the edge
I of Wilmington Lagoon, in positions where there will be
abundant room on shore for machine shops and other ac-
I cessories. In this respect San Pedro offers advantages far

; superior to those at Santa Monica

In the matter of approaches from the land, Port Los An-
I geles is now connected with Los Angeles by a single line of
; railroad, the Southern Pacific, while a second line, the Santa
Fe, terminates at Santa Monica, two miles away. There
i are no physical difficulties in the way of extending the Santa
' Fe tracks to Port Los Angeles, and there is abundant room
1 to lay additional tracks between the bluffs and the sea. The
I only difficulties to be apprehended are such as would arise
from the destruction of the Santa Monica beach and the in-
terference with the vested rights of private owners and cor-
I porations. There are at present two lines of railroad from
Los Angeles to San Pedro, one terminating on each side of
] the inner harbor. The difference in the present facilities of
' communication between Los Angeles and the two harbors
I is immaterial. The distance is slightly greater to San Pedro;
the grades are a little heavier on the Santa Monica Hne.
I The present lines of communication, however, may be much
i less important than those which will be developed when a
! first-class harbor is established at one or another of these
'ports

ADMIRAL JOHN G. WALKER.

HON. R. C. KERENb.

GEO. B. LEIGHTON, President Terminal Railway Co.

THE FINAL CONCLUSIONS. 177

Considered as a convenient harbor of refuge, there is little
I difference between the two. Either would be easily ac-
cessible from the open sea, and the comparative ease with
I which a ship would reach the breakwater protection at one or
jthe other would depend chiefly upon her direction of ap-
'proach when she decided to seek refuge

A final summing up of the case is given in the following
language :

Although the location of Port Los Angeles affords all
I that is needful for a satisfactory harbor of refuge, it is de-
ificient in the facilities necessary for a harbor of commerce
[contemplated under the law. At San Pedro, on the other
1 hand, a large expenditure has already been made for the
\ improvement of the channel leading into the inner harbor
i and in the inner harbor itself. The series of examinations
I made under this Board also show that any further improve-
I ment that may be needed can readily be made, and that the
I possibilities for the further deyelopment of the interior har-
I bor are equal to any demand upon it which the future can be
I expected to make. It is the conclusion of this Board, there-
I fore, that the opportunity for a harbor of refuge as planned
I for San Pedro and the availability of both the interior har-
I bor and the Wilmington Lagoon for improvements, and de-
I velopment to any extent that can now be anticipated, meet
I more fully the requirements of the law than the possibilities
[offered at Port Los Angeles.

While the physical advantages of the San Pedro location
i naturally lead to its selection, the advisability of that choice
I is materially strengthened by the consideration of the exten-
1 sive improvement of its interior harbor already made, condi-
) tionally provided for or contemplated as the object of future
I appropriations. If the choice of the deep-water harbor site
1 should fall to Port Los Angeles, the present statute would
I then authorize improvements at the San Pedro location to the
I amount of $392,000, under Lieut.-Col. W. H. H. Benyaurd's
I project of June 8th, 1894, and the same statute unqualifiedly
I directs the Secretary of ■ War "at his discretion"' to cause
' surveys and estimates to be made for further improvements
I at the same location, so as to secure a depth of 25 feet at
I mean low water in the channel and interior harbor. In the
) broad consideration of this question, therefore, it must be as-
I sumed that the improvement of the channel and interior har-
ibor at San Pedro will be continued. If the expenditure of

178 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

; public money is to be devoted to harbor purposes in this sec-
[ tion, its division between the two points considered will fail
' to secure that efficiency in results which would be attained
'by the same total expenditure at one of the two locations.
! It is the judgment of this Board that the best public policy,
I both in the interest of economy and for the attainment of a
I deep-water harbor for commerce and of refuge demands the
1 concentration of expenditures at one point, with the cor-
I responding cumulative excellence of results, rather than a
1 dispersion and weakening of results by a divided expendi-
I ture at the two locations. This conclusion gains consider-
|able force through the fact that the ■ selection of the San
I Pedro site will, for the reasons stated, undoubtedly involve
[ materially less ultimate total expenditure than is certain to be
; incurred by the inevitable construction and maintenance of
' the two harbors, if Port Los Angeles were to be selected.
1 The preponderance of physical advantages, therefore, which
leads to the selection of the San Pedro location, is in line
I with the requirements of the best public policy as to the mat-
I ter entrusted to the decision of this Board.

Taking all these considerations together, this Board re-
I ports in favor of San Pedro as the location for a deep-water
' harbor for commerce and of refuge in Southern California.

This part of the report was signed by all the members
of the Board except Mr. Morgan. He filed a separate mi-
nority report, two weeks later, which is to be found in the
same volume with the other. Mr. Morgan's views on the
harbor question, as set forth in his minority report, created
no little amusement, not only among Los Angeles people,
but also among engineers all over the country. He gives a
list of ten reasons why, in his opinion, Santa Monica is to
be preferred to San Pedro, the last two being as follows :

Because Port Los Angeles harbor has about it natural
features of beauty and grandeur which, added to its excel-
I lence as a deep-water harbor for commerce and of refuge,
I would make it famous throughout the world.

Because the name, Port Los Angeles, comports with the
1 city of Los Angeles, whose commercial importance mainly
1 justfies the construction of the proposed harbor. The name
1 San Pedro has no special significance beyond itself.

In justice to Mr. Morgan it must be stated that his eight
other reasons were decidedly better than those two, whose

THE LEAGUE CELEBRATES. 179

solemn absurdity caused a local publication to offer in com-
parison this nonsense from "Alice."

"The time has come ", the walrus said,
"To talk of many things :
Of shoes, and ships and sealing wax.

Of cabbages and kings ;
Of why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings."

CHAPTER XVIIL
The Secretary of Delay.

THE failure 01 the supporters of the Santa Monica site to
develop any new material before the Walker Board led
to a general conviction that the report, when it should appear,
would be for San Pedro, since the previous Boards had come
to that decision, on substantially the same testimony. This
anticipation, however, was not strong enough to blunt the
edge of the keen delight that the people of Los Angeles — or
at least a great majority of them — felt, when the word came,
during the last days of the Cleveland administration, that
the Board had reported in favor of the "Free Harbor." The
Evening Express, which was still a Santa Monica paper,
was the first to receive the news, and from there it was tele-
phoned all over the city. The siren whistle which the Times
blows when important news comes to the city sounded joy-
fully, and the members of the League, divining what had
happened, came hastily together.

An impromptu celebration was organized at the Jonathan
club. A band of music was summoned, banners were
quickly lettered, and a procession of Leaguers marched
through the principal streets of the city, gathering numbers
of people as they went along. There was a great deal of
cheering and handshaking and drinking of healths. The
fight had been so long, and at times so hopeless, that it
seemed quite incredible that it was at last over, and that the
invincible railroad had for once gone down in defeat.

The Santa Monica adherents took the decision pleasantly,
many of them joining in the celebration. It was expected
that the railroad would grasp the opportunity to restore

i8o THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

pleasant relations between the Los Angeles public and itself
by some graceful act of recognition of the final outcome. A
few words from Mr. Huntington, to the effect that the rail-
road accepted the decision with good feeling, and would
henceforth unite with Los Angeles in the endeavor to secure
appropriations for the development of San Pedro harbor, if
they had come just at this time, would have put the South--
ern Pacific back in the position it had occupied in the estima-
tion of the people before the contest began. But those words
were not uttered, neither then nor two years later, when the
beginning of the work was formally celebrated in the Free
Harbor Jubilee of April, 1899. On the latter occasion the
railroad refused to participate m any way in the ceremonies,
and declined to make any subscription to the fund which
was raised, although it was benefited to a considerable ex-
tent by an enormous passenger business betweeti Los An-
geles and San Pedro during the Jubilee. It would seem
that this attitude taken by the railroad on a matter that is
settled beyond question, was of doubtful wisdom from busi-
ness considerations, if other grounds are not regarded. It
was said, and this history would not be complete without
referring to the matter, that during a great part of the con-
test the feeling against the Southern Pacific was so strong
that many shippers were refusing to send goods over that
line to points where the Santa Fe was equally available.
There was nothing that resembled a boycott, but the theory
prevailed that the enmity aroused by the opposition of the
road to the people's will must have caused the loss of con-
siderable revenue to that corporation. The officers of the
Southern Pacific deny this, with considerable vigor, and they
assert that while a feeling of resentment was noticeable in
some quarters, there was never any evidence that it affected
the road's business, which showed a considerable increase
during the period. In the absence of definite information,
which in the nature of things is not obtainable, it is perhaps
just as well to accept the maxim that "there is no sentiment
in business," as covering this case. If the Southern Pacific
was hurt by the course it had adopted with regard to the
harbor, the injury certainly never showed on the surface.

And Mr. Huntington never sent the pleasant message
which some of his friends predicted would come. On the

ALGER TAKES A HAND. i8i

contrary, evidence presently began to accumulate that tha
fight was not all out of him yet. Indeed, whatever else,
good or bad, is to be said of the president of the Southern
Pacific, it must be admitted that he is a splendid fighter.

When the appointment of Gen. Russell A. Alger as Sec-
retary of War was made known, the fear was immediately
expressed that San Pedro might have "one more river to
cross." When the contest was at its height. Gen. Alger
had visited Los Angeles as a guest of the Southern Pacific,
and in an interview in the Herald had declared his belief
that Santa Monica and not San Pedro was the proper place
for the harbor. He was known to be on very friendly terms
with Mr. Huntington, and to sustain rather intimate business
relations with him through his northwestern lumber inter-
ests. The Democrats, moreover, were not slow to call at'
tention to the fact, which was known and undisputed, that
Mr. Huntington had been one of the largest subscribers tc
the fund raised by Mr. Hanna for Mr. McKinley's cam-
paign; and the rumor which came out from the East, that
Gen. Alger's appointment had been urged on the Presi-
dent somewhat against his own inclination, seemed to fit in
with other things, to make the San Pedro outlook very
dubious. However, as it ultimately came about. President
McKinley disproved this unfriendly theory by finally com-
pelling Secretary Alger to proceed with the work.

When the report of the Walker Board was made public,
the friends of San Pedro figured that as soon as specifica-
tions were drawn up — which might take two months — and
advertised — which would take another two months — and
a favorable bid accepted, the work would be ready to begin.
The decision was rendered in March, 1897, and it was
thought that work might perhaps be under way the follow-
ing fall or winter, or, with the greatest delay conceivable, in
a year's time. Yet it was not until the month of April, 1899.
two whole years and a month from the time of the decision,
that the first load of rock was dumped into the breakwater;
and now, at the end of the controversy, it may be said, with-
out the fear of sincere contradiction, that at least half of
this time was deliberately wasted by Secretary Alger, in
the desperate hope of throwing the issue back into Congress.

i82 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

Why he pursued this course is perhaps a mystery; that he
pursued it is a matter of fact.

At the beginning of President McKinley's term, Col. H.
G. Otis visited Washington, and was an applicant for the
position of First Assistant Secretary of War. In his de-
sire for this place he was actuated partly, no doubt, by
an ambition natural to a soldier and man of affairs, but
perhaps more by a wish to assist in carrying through to com-
pletion the work at San Pedro, for which he had fought so
long and so bravely. An intimate friendship of long stand-
ing with President McKinley gave him reason to hope for
help from that quarter, and it was freely rendered, the
President urging the appointment on the Secretary. But
Secretary Alger did not desire Col. Otis as an assistant,
alleging as a reason that, as California was already rep-
resented in the Cabinet, it would not do to appoint a
First Assistant Secretary from the same State. He there-
upon proceeded to appoint a gentleman from New York,
which State was also represented in the Cabinet.

Before leaving Washington, however. Col. Otis had an
interview with Secretary Alger on the subject of the harbor,
and was assured that the work would be pushed as rapidly
as possible.

After two months had passed, with no sound from the
War Department, Ex-Congressman McLachlan interviewed
the Secretary for the Evening Express, which, paper, under
a change of management, C. D. Willard having succeeded H.
Z. Osborne, was now a San Pedro advocate, and the surpris-
ing information was elicited that the report of the Walker
Board was not clear in its meaning, and that the matter must
be carefully considered before proceeding further. Another
month passed, and there being still no word from the War
Department, Representative Barlow, who had succeeded
Mr. McLachlan, called on Secretary Alger and received
what he declared to be most insulting treatment. The Sec-
retary said in effect that he did not propose to answer any
more questions on the matter, and declined to state when he
would advertise for bids. Congress was then sitting in
extra session, wrestling with the Dingley Tariff Bill, and a
meeting of the California delegation was called, and action
decided tipon. Senator White introduced a resolution in

PLENTY OF EXCUSES. 183

the Senate, asking the Secretary of War why he did not
proceed with the San Pedro harbor work. The answer
came in a letter which set forth several surprising reasons.
These were that the improvement would certainly cost more
than the Board had figured; that the act called for a harbor
of commerce and of refuge, which the Secretary interpreted
to mean both the outer and the inner harbors, and there
was not money enough for both; that to make the outer
harbor available for commerce, piers and bulkheads must be
constructed, which would cost the government nearly three
millions more ; that to make the interior harbor of any value,
it was necessary to dredge it out to 30 feet of water at low
tide, whereas the report of the Board contemplated only 21
feet; and lastly, that there were a number of sunken rocks
near the entrance to the harbor, which the Board, with all
its investigation, had overlooked.

When this document was published a howl of mingled
anger, amusement and disgust went up from the people of
Southern California, who saw that they were now face to
face again with .the old enemy, but in a new form. The
voice was the voice of Jacob, but the hand was the hand of
Esau. It was very like the cool audacity of Mr. Huntington
to sweep away in a few words the patient work of experts,
and produce in its stead an off-hand opinion as to sunken
rocks or an underestimate of cost. The reader who has
examined the terms of the original act, as quoted in Chapter
XVII, and the findings of the Board, will experience no diffi-
culty in disposing of all of Secretary Alger's objections that
rest on even a semblance of fact.

The answering resolution introduced by Senator White
and promptly passed by the Senate, was almost contempt-
uous in its brevity. It instructed the Secretary to proceed
without further delay to advertise for bids for the construc-
tion of a breakwater for the outside harbor at San Pedro,
in accordance with the report of the Walker Board. Shortly
afterward Congress adjourned, and it was supposed that
the incident was closed.

But Secretary Alger was only just beginning. His scheme
of systematic delay was barely in its inception. The next
point raised, when he was called upon by a delegation of Los
Angeles citizen, was that the Senate resolution, to be operat-

1 84 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

ive, should have been passed in concurrent form by the
House. Of all the various excuses this was the most short-
lived. He was warned that such an attitude, if persisted in,
would be regarded by the Senate as a deliberate affront, for
which he would be called to account in the next session.

A direct appeal on the part of the people of Southern
California to President McKinley resulted in drawing a
statement from the Secretary that he would leave the decis-
ion of the matter with Attorney-General McKenna. The
latter officer returned a prompt and emphatic reply that there
were no legal obstacles in the way of the Secretary's adver-
tising for bids. This decision rested over a month on Sec-
retary's Alger's desk before it was given to the public, al-
though repeated inquiries were made of him during that
time.

In this way the summer and fall of 1897 passed, and as
the months slipped by the annoyance and anxiety of the
people of Los Angeles grew into rage and despair. It was
not enough, so it seemed, to secure the passage of a law
through Congress authorizing the work ; aii executive officer
was to be reckoned with, who deliberately nullified, by a
series of trivial and trumped-up excuses, the carrying out of
the law. Realizing that they were in for another long
struggle, the Free Harbor League and the commercial
bodies of the city began a systematic campaign against Sec-
retary Alger, whom they endeavored to reach through in-
fluence brought to bear from all points of the compass on
President McKinley. Thousands of letters and telegrams
were sent out all over the country to influential men; and
the newspapers that had stood by San Pedro when the case
was before the Senate took up the issue in its changed form.

In the month of October Alger produced his next excuse,
which was that the bill made no direct appropriation, and
hence nothing could be done until Congress met again.
This was in one way true, for the work on the outside or
deep-water harbor being placed under the continuing con-
tract system, it was necessary that an appropriation
should be passed in some general appropriation bill of the
next Congress, before any actual payments could be made
to contractors. The custom followed by the War De-
partment in such cases — with which Secretary Alger was

THE ADVERTISING EXPENSE. 185

of course familiar — is to prepare the specifications, and
proceed to get bids. This process necessarily consumes
some time, and, in this case, Congress would be in session
long before it was over; but in case the money was not ac-
tually set aside, inasmuch as the Government had authorized
the Secretary of War to go ahead and make the contract, it
was well understood by everybody that there would be no
difficulty in finding a contractor who was ready to prepare
for the work without waiting for the final action.

When the Secretary was reminded that he was merely
asked to advertise for bids, and that question of the begin-
ningof the work should be allowed to wait for the present, he
developed a new objection, which was that he had no money
with which to pay for the advertisements. The answer to
that came in telegrams from all the papers of Los Angeles
and several in San Francisco, offering to insert the adver-
tisements free of charge, and from the Los Angeles Chamber
of Commerce, offering to pay the bill, whatever it might be.
To this proposition Secretary Alger returned answer that it
would not be dignified in the government to accept aid in
such a matter, but that he had submitted the question of
funds for advertising to the Judge Advocate General. Why he
selected that functionary, whose legal duties are of a purely
military character, will always remain a mystery, unless
the theory which was offered at that time was correct, that
he was trying one officer after another in the hope of getting
a friendly decision somewhere, just as the Santa Monica ad-
vocates had formerly gone from one Board to another.

However, the Judge Advocate General decided that the
$50,000 appropriated for the expense of the investigation
of the harbors, a part of which remained unexpended, was
available.

In the meantime Attorney General McKenna had been
placed on the Supreme Bench and his place filled by John
W. Griggs. Mr. Alger now proposed, with most unparal-
leled effrontery, to submit the matter to him, although it had
already been fully covered by his predecessor in office. It
was about this time that General Rosecrans, President
McKinley's old commander, who was then passing his last
days in Los Angeles, wrote to the President detailing at
some length the nature of the outrage that was being put

186 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

upon Southern California; and the result of that and of other
forms of influence that had been at work was to cause the
President to instruct Secretary Alger immediately to ad-
vertise for bids. These instructions were obeyed. It took
some time to prepare the specifications, for none of the pre-
liminary work had been done in all these wasted months;
but on the loth of February, 1898, almost a year after the
report of the Walker Board, the bids were opened.

They were most surprisingly favorable. Out of the seven-
teen bids filed, only one was for an amount greater than
the $2,900,000 provided by the law, thus completely disprov-
ing Secretary Alger's assertion, so often repeated, that the
work could not be done for the amount appropriated. This
particular bid was from a New York firm in the sum of $4,t
595,516, which, as it was about twice the average of the
bids, and more than $3,000,000 above the lowest bid, was
generally believed to be put in for some particular purpose
— perhaps at Mr. Alger's request.

The lowest bid was from the Chicago contracting firm
of Heldmaier & Neu, for $1,303,198. The majority of the
bids were under $2,000,000.

A few days later the Sundry Civil Appropriation bill,
bearing an item of $400,000, the initial appropriation for
San Pedro under the continuing contract, came up in the
House and a very singular incident occurred — one that has
since given rise to no little speculation as to its true inward-
ness.

When the item was reached in the reading erf the bill, Mr.
Grosvenor, of Ohio, rose in the House Committee of the
Whole to ask some questions. He desired to know whether
the exact total cost of this improvement was known, and
whether any contract had been let, and also whether it was
not a fact that "a proposition had been made to make a har-
bor of similar character at a location in the immediate vicin-
ity of San Pedro harbor by private enterprise — covering all
the possibilities of benefit to the government to be made
and turned over to the government without cost."

Mr. Cannon, of Illinois, the Chairman of the Committee
on Appropriations, replied at considerable length, quoting
the law of '96, which he declared to be ambiguous, and the
opinion of the Attorney General, from which he was in-

MR. COOPER OK WISCONSIN. 187

clined to dissent. With regard to the alleged offer of Mr.
Huntington to construct the harbor at Santa Monica foi
nothing, Mr. Cannon said that he had no official knowl-
edge of it, but that it would not influence the Committee's
decision to give the appropriation to San Pedro for the
construction of the harbor in acordance with the Act of '96.
Mr. Grosvenor then proposed that the matter should go over

HENRY A. COOPBR, M. C, Wisconsin.

to the next day, when Mr. Henry A. Cooper, of Wisconsin,
took the floor, and in very plain language demanded to
know what all this meant. Was it an effort to open up the
question again ? He said :

This matter of San Pedro harbor is to me in many re-
|spects the most astonishing that I have ever encountered
I since I have had a seat in this House. I do not believe it ever
J had its counterpart in the legislative history of the coun-
try Is it not strange that after two Boards

)of Engineers had said that San Pedro was the only place
(to improve, nevertheless, the provision was inserted in the
» bill of the last session for the improvement of Santa Monica
Sat an expense of $2,900,000? Not one single member of

i88 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

(either branch of Congress from California wanted it, save
)only one man, and he is the only man who voted for the
) Founding Bill. Does the light begin to break ? We could not
) get the appropriation for San Pedro. The bill went to the
I Senate, and after a great deal of discussion there, they finally
! inserted in the bill the provision for the appointment of an
) entirely new board — unprecedented in the history of harbors
5 in the United States. This board, by a majority of four to
J one, reported in favor of confirming the decisions of the for-
j mer two boards. And notwithstanding that, a persistent, un-
I remitting, unrelenting, determined effort has been made to
I defeat that measure, and prevent the improvement of San
I Pedro harbor. Letters have been written, interviews have
) been had, alleged questions about the proper construction to
) be put upon the law have been asked, and finally the opinion
) of the Attorney General has been sought, and we have his
) decision in favor of San Pedro added to all the others. . .
Now, Mr. Chairman, if anything ought to be passed by
j this committee and this House — if not another provision in
jthe bill passes this provision ought to pass. [Applause.]

It is time that people, who propose to fight, as these
[ have, violating every precedent, who at last get a decision
[ from the Attorney General, and then question his opinion —
I it is time that they should be taught a lesson that the patience
I of the American people on this subject has been exhausted.
No question ever presented to me since I have been a
i member of this House has struck me with as much astonish-
iment as this. I have never known anything like so deter-
I mined a fight to thwart the will of the people, to prevent the
I carrying out of just laws, in the interest of private individ-
luals and of one corporation. And now these people, who
I have been defeated year in and year out in their efforts to
! establish a harbor at Santa Monica, come in and say : "We
] will build a harbor and give it to the United States, if you
] will put it where the engineers of the United States Army
[think it ought not to go."

Mr. Cooper's remarks put a stop to the discussion. The
item was passed without further question. It was evident
from the reception which the House gave to the Wisconsin
man's utterance that that body was not inclined to consider
any new propositions from Mr. Huntington, and if Mr.
Grosvenor or any one else had something ready, he evidently
thought best to withdraw it until a more favorable oppor-
tunity should appear.

SENATOR STEWART'S AMENDMENT. 189

That evening Mr. Cooper received a telegram from John
F. Francis, informing him that several thousand men in
Los Angeles and Southern California were drinking his
health.

When the bill came up to the Senate, March 24, 1898, a
proposition of an entirely new order was offered by Senator
Stewart of Nevada.

If the Heldmaier & Neu bid were accepted it would ap-
parently leave a margin of $1,600,000 unexpended.* Sen-

LIEUT. COL. W. H. H. BBNYADRD.

ator Stewart, who had been a warm friend of the Santa
Monica plan, saw here the opportunity to secure that im-
provement, and he offered an amendment that the appropri-
ation of $400,000 be applied pro rata upon both harbors,
provided the Secretary of War was able to contract with
some responsible party for the construction of both at
some figure within the $2,900,000. But the Senate had by
this time become as completely a San Pedro body as the

*«. e., if the estimates of the Walker Board as to the total amount
of stone necessary for the construction of the break-water were correct.

igo mn FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

Free Harbor League itself, and the amendment was
promptly voted down.

Then followed four more months of waiting. The re-
port of the engineering authorities of the Department on
the bids was filed February 28, 1898, but it was not until
July 21 of that year Secretary Alger found time to ap-
prove the bid and order a contract to be drawn,* and it was
not until th following spring, April of 1899, that the work
actually began.

The question that the people of Los Angeles frequently
ask is this : If the decision of the Board had been for Santa
Monica, instead of San Pedro, would Secretary Alger have
deliberately wasted two whole years on every conceivable
form of excuse in getting the work started, or did he merely
play his part in a wellrorganized but unsuccessful plot ?

CHAPTER XIX.
The San Pedro Jubilee.

WHEN the list doubt as to the actual beginning of
work on San Pedro harbor had died away, it was
decided to hold a celebration of a suitable character to com-
memorate ;the contest and the starting of the enterprise.
The date of -April 26-27, 1899, was fixed for the event, and
committee^ were appointed froni a public meeting called at
the Chamber of Commerce, to undertake the work of prep-
aration.

The presidency of the organization and the general man-
agement of the work was placed upon Mr. W. B. Cline, who
had been a Director of the Chamber of Commerce and an
active worker in the harbor cause. Mr. Cline's high
standing as a business man, his social popularity and his
experience in public enterprises gave him special fitness for
the work he was to undertake. The Secretaryship was
filled by Mr. George W. Parsons, an active League member
and Chamber of Commerce Director, who was assisted by a
very capable young man with special qualification for this
class of work, Mr. D. C. McGarvin.

* The entire California delegation called upon the President and urged
that he examine into the Secretary's behavior. That ended the delay.

THE FIRST LOAD OF ROCK.

191

The city" of Los Angeles was for a number of years ac-
customed to hold a local celebration in the spring time,
called La Fiesta, which was a perpetuation of the ancient
Spanish festivals. The previous year this celebration had
been abandoned on account of the Spanish war, and this
year it was decided to merge it into the San Pedro affair —
or to speak more exactly — to give the San Pedro celebration
some Fiesta features.

The Jubilee was arranged to last through two days. On
the first of these was to be a gathering at San Pedro with

W. B. CLINE.

speeches and a barbecue, and on the second a flower parade
and other ceremonies in Los Angeles. As one of the fea-
tures of the Jubilee, it was proposed to hold a South-
western Commercial Congress, made up of representatives
from the commercial bodies of California, Nevada, Utah,

192 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

Arizona and New Mexico, and invitations were sent out for
that purpose.

Wednesday, April 26th, 1899, the formal beginning of
the harbor work took place in San Pedro and was ac-
companied by appropriate ceremonies. About 20,000 peo-
ple were carried from Los Angeles and the surrounding ter-
ritory down to the ancient port. The majority of these
came by the Terminal road, as the Southern Pacific had

D. C. MCGARVIN.

manifested some disapproval of the celebration. The people
assembled near Point Fermin, where one of the Heldmaier
& Neu barges, loaded with rock, lay ready for the dumping.
Word was then telegraphed to President McKinley at
Washington that all was ready, and he touched an electric
button in his library in the White House, whereby the
machinery was set in motion to fill the air chambers of the
barge, thus causing it to roll over on one side and the
rock to tumble off into the water. Unfortunately, however,
the mechanism of the new barge failed to work properly,
and the stone had at last to be pushed off by hand with much
hard labor. This was accepted as symbolic of the entire

• SPEECHES AT THE JUBILEE. 193

harbor undertaking. Nothing about it had come easily;
it was all hard work, and but for the most tremendous indi-
vidual and community exertion, it could never have been at-
tained. After the first stone was unloaded, the speeches
of the day were heard. Charles Cassatt Davis, the chair-
man of the occasion, read a telegram, which he had just re-
ceived from President McKinley, congratulating the people
of Southern California on the beginning of this great com-
mercial work.

The first place on the programme was accorded to the
Governor of California, Mr. Henry T. Gage of Los Angeles,
who more than thirty years before had herded sheep over
the country lying between San Pedro and the city. He said .

The corner-stone of commerce of this part of the State is
[ now auspiciously laid by the actual work of this harbor
[improvement for which you have so long and anxiously
I waited.

In this hour of your jubilee, expressive of your happiness
[ upon the outcome of your struggle for a deep-sea harbor,
j it affords me the highest gratification as your fellow citizen
'to greet here to-day that able, honorable, independent and
I distinguished gentleman, Hon. Stephen M. .White, and to
I add my tribute of respect to the ability, energy and labors
which he unselfishly bestowed in our behalf, and which cul-
I minated in the selection by the national government of this
I splendid bay as a place for a great southern port. Senator
I White, an ideal public servant, was fully awake to your need
! for this harbor, and he therefore always readily responded
j to your just and earnest appeal.

Stephen M. White — whose term as United States Senator
was now at an end — followed in a powerful and eloquent
speech. He began as follows :

Fellow-citizens : Great military triumphs have in all ages,
) sometimes justly, sometimes without reason, been succeeded
(by elaborate -displays, and long and loud applause, including
1 the many forms -through which men have exhibited their
'enthusiastic satisfaction — their indescribable delight. But
{ however' majestic these achievements, yet in numerous in-
j stances many of their incidents are susceptible of justification
I only in so far as they have been essential to promote civiliz-
i-ation, to defend it from direct encroachment. No one fails
I to regret the loss of life and property which war involves.

194 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

>the sacrifices and sorrows thus begotten. It is for this rea-
j son that a mere whim or momentary desire for conquest can-
not be the basis of rational approval, but that, as I have said,
there must be something virtuous in the commencement and
beneficial in the product. We are here to celebrate the com-
mencement of a work destined to last when we and ours are
gone— the benefits of which only one endowed with prophecy
by divinity can for a moment attempt to enumerate. I refer
to the building of the San Pedro breakwater by the govern-
ment. The undertaking is certain to culminate in a harbor
not only fitted for local commerce or coastwise trade, but
also suited to the needs of all merchant vessels, and to our
warships and those of friendly powers, plying in these
waters, needing for the time being a haven where they may
ride without fear. Nor is this all : The United States has
\ made giant strides in her foreign trade.
\ The excess of exports over imports in 1893 was about
(one hundred million dollars. This was considered a most
(promising indication, and excited general satisfaction in
? mercantile circles; but the excess of exports for the twelve
Pmonths ending December, 1898, was $621,260,535. The Bir-
?mingham Daily Mail of January 3, 1899, declares : "In Eng-,
) land, we fully recognize that in America we have to compete
with a country of unlimited natural resources. Nothing
could be more remarkable than the statistics of the recent
i exports of American merchandise."

Mr. White then quoted from the report of the Craighill
Board (1892) the conclusions on the need for a deep-water
harbor near Los Angeles for future Oriental trade and for
the increased commerce of the Southwest, that would exist
when the Nicaragua canal should be finished. He con-
tinued as follows :

This monument whose corner-stone has just been laid
[is based on truth, it is not erected to perpetuate wrong.
I While conceived in labor it represents only truth, honesty and
) honor. It suggests the power of the people; it rises because
of the people's will. The dazzling beauties of money — the
) allurements of millions have not obscured the vision of our
i engineer corps, and should not impair our sight

When this great work is done it will again be proved that
I the control of the American people does not, Byron to the
I contrary notwithstanding, "stop with the shore," but that we
!move onward in those paths of conquest where the sword

SENATOR PERKINS' VIEWS. 195

I does not gleam and the bullet does not kill, but where the
; inventive arid progressive American subdues by the force of

! his energy and the magnetism of his personality

1 Fellow-citizens : In conclusion, if I have done anything
; to bring to fruition the great work, I have but yielded to
I my duty. Proud of the honors which I have received, I
J care more for your approval than for any official incum-
j bency. To succeed in an ambition to be elected to high office
I office is, indeed, pleasant, but to receive public congratula-
jtions when authority has passed and the official is only a
> private citizen, amounts to more than an impartial indorse-
iment. I would have done my duty as I saw it, had you.
I protested. I did as I understood it, and you have com-
I mended. This ought to be enough for anyone; it is suffi-
'cient to give me a balmy pillow,

The next speaker was Senator George C. Perkins. From
his remarks the following may be quoted :

It was said that this breakwater would cost the nation
I $3,000,000, and the contract has been let for something over
[one million. The residue of the $3,000,000 appropriated
I should now be devoted to the improvement of the inner har-
j bor by dredging and other necessary work.

When this harbor is completed you will need machine
) shops, and other great enterprises, and they will come within
I the next twenty years, and your boys will be learning trades
I for the building up of a merchant marine to put an end to
I the burden of $200,000,000, which we are paying annually
jto foreign countries for transporting our merchandise and
our people who are traveling about the world. These foreign
countries had built up their merchant marine through the aid
I of subventions, subsidies and mail subsidies. Why cannot
I America give a few million dollars annually to create a mer^
I chant marine through similar means? The future of this
I country is laden with great possibilities along such.ilines.
I Twenty years ago there was no citrus fruit shipped from
) the State, but last year you shipped 18,065 carloads of ten
) tons each of citrus fruit, with other fruits to bring the total
I up to S7,ooo carloads, besides what we consumed and what
I was shipped by sea, and to this can be added 20,000 carloads
I of wine and brandy, while millions of tons of grain are to
\ be accounted for in the shipments from California. When
j the Nicaragua canal is completed there will come competition
[ in transportation, which will insure low freight rates, and
I there can be no cheap freight without competition. If my

196 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

i colleague, Senator White, were the only attorney in this sec-
! tion, geperqus as he is, what do you suppose you would have
I to pay for law ? The best regulator of transportation rates

in the wprld is the little schooner plying up and down the
I coast. All reasonable people believe in railroads, but we
I believe thfit they should be so regulated that they shall not
j become monopolies. We haxe now two railroads entering

Southern California, and within ten years we. will have
( two more.

R. J. WATERS, M. C, Sixth District California.

Col. S. O. Houghton, the father of San Pedro harbor,
followed in a brief historical sketch of the harbor and its
earliest development. Col. Will A. Harris spoke of the
splendid future that the construction of the harbor opened
before Los Angeles. Judge James G. Maguire, who had rep-
resented a San Francisco district in Congress through all

GRACEFUIv RECOGNITION. 197

the years of the contest, and who had been of gi'eat service
to the San Pedro cause, gave some of the details of the fight
in the House. He was followed by Mayor James Phelan of
San Francisco, who presented the greetings of the Northern
metropolis. Mr. Geo. S. Patton testified to the courageous
and determined work done by the entire California Con-
gressional delegation for San Pedro, without which the
victory could never have been achieved, and Col. George H.
Mendell spoke of the technical and engineering side of the
work. The new Congressman from the Los Angeles dis-
trict, Mr. R. J. Waters, was then introduced^ and in a pleas-
ing speech promised to do all in his power to promote the
continuance of the harbor improvement. Captain James
J. Meyler, who was in charge of the work, made a few
appropriate remarks.

Mr. T. E. Gibbon spoke of the value of the service that
Mr. Maguire had rendered at the time when the bill con-
taining the provision for the last Board was held up in con-
ference, and Mr. T. L. Ford, the Attorney-General of the
State, closed the exercises of the day with an eloquent
tribute to the great physical beauty and commercial pro-
gressiveness of the Southern section of the State. A grand
barbecue was then served, at which i5,QQO people were fed.

The celebration of Thursday, April 27, ; began at the
Chamber of Commerce, where several hundred of the most
active San Pedro workers were gathered. A large silver
loving cup was presented to C. D. Willard, who, during the
greater part of the contest, was Secretary of the Chamber of
Commerce, but who at this time was general manager of
the Evening Express. A graceful presentation speech was
made by Mr. Henry T. Hazard. The inscription on the
- cup read as follows :

Presented to

C. D. WILLARD

By his fellow-citizens, in token of their

appreciation of his patriotic and efficient

services as secretary of the Chamber of

Commerce, in aiding to secure a free

harbor for Los Angeles at San Pedro.

FREE HARBOR JUBILEE.

April 27, 1899.

198

THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

A large crowd of people, headed by the officers of the
Jubilee, then proceeded to the office of the Los Angeles
Times to do that newspaper an honor which is, perhaps,
unique in the history of American journalism. An English
paper, the London Times, once enjoyed a similar expe-
rience. A memorial tablet of granite had been prepared
some days before, and had been put in place in the wall of
the Times Building, near the corner-stone, and it was now
to be unveiled with appropriate ceremony. The tablet bore
the following inscription.

TOCSirsnriFlMI)[l{EiME

iY™glFlEiH£@IF

ILiSWELISCifflllfil-.

The speech of the occasion was delivered by Mr. T. E.
Gibbon, who, after a short introduction, said :

Your fellow-citizens are mindful of the fact that when this
j contest first began a great phalanx of wealth and power was
I arrayed on the side which they conceived to be opposed to
[their rights and privileges; an opposition so strong and re-
I lentless as to give pause to anyone thinking to meet it.
I They are also mindful of the fact that at that time, and with-
) out pausing to count the odds opposed, but with the desire
and intent of sustaining the right and advocating the truth,
I as you saw it, your journal, enlisted under the banner of the
j people's rights, waged unflagging and relentless war against
I all the forces which were seeking to enthrall and entrammel
I the commerce of our city for all future time.

During the more than seven years which have elapsed
! since this contest was begun, there has never for a moment

A REMARKABLE TRIBUTE. 199

] been a halt or shadow of turning in your pursuit of the path
j which you entered, a road at the end of which lay the fruition
j of a people's hopes and the vindication of a people's rights.
I During that time your fellow-citizens have ever looked to
I your columns for a defense of these rights and an expression
I of the arguments to sustain and enforce them, and they have
j never looked in vain. No sculptured or lettered stone is
I necessary to enable them to hold in lifelong memory the loyal
I and patriotic devotion which you have shown to the best in-
terests of the community which your paper serves, but that
their children and their children's children may be taught the
I lesson of remembrance and appreciation for services so rare
in the purity of their patriotism and devotion to the public
\ weal as they were strenuous and unflagging in their con-
I stancy and devotion, your fellow-citizens now ask permis-
j sion to present to you and to install in the wall of the home
of your journal the tablet which I now unveil, bearing an in-
I scription intended to be expressive of their sentiments toward
'you.

Here Mr. Gibbon unveiled the tablet, and read to the
crowd the inscription.

Brigadier-General Otis, the owner of the Times, was
absent, in active service in the Philippines, and Mr. Harry
Chandler, who in his absence served as general manager of
the paper, responded in a few modest words, in which he
gave due credit to the people of Los Angeles for their
courage in the long fight.

On this tablet is written: "Commemorates their appre-
Iciation for services." That the paper did render services
I was true only because of the broad character and farsighted-
|ness of Los Angeles' leading citizens, who in this harbor
' fight were quick to discern the right and quick to act.
I When the newspaper gave publicity to the facts of the
'harbor fight, showing the magnitude of the contest, and
! the relative merits of the contesting ports, then our citizens
I of intelligence gave unsparingly of their time and money
' to the work of opposing selfishness and corporate greed, and
I to exposing corporate infamy, to the end that this choice and
1 chosen part of the world that we proudly call home might
[have a free harbor. Had the citizens been less patriotic,
I less enterprising, less generous or less discerning, the best
' newspaper in the world might have howled until doomsday
and have performed no effective service, because without

200 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

these qualities in the people the printed word would have
been carried to those who, "having ears to hear, hear not,
and haying eyes to see, see not."

Senators White and Perkins, Judge Maguire, and the
managing editor of the paper, Mr. L.E. Mosher, were called
upon, and each spoke a few words.

• In the afternoon of that day a superb floral parade was
presented, which 100,000 people, from Los Angeles and the
surrounding territory, witnessed. It was several miles in
length, and contained, besides the flower decked vehicles,
a remarkable display by the Chinese of Los Angeles of the
ancierit Oriental costumes and customs, a large company of
Spanish caballeros or rough riders, the fire department and
numerous uniformed organizations, chief among which was
the Americus Club of Pasadena.

The floral parade was fully up to the high standard of
the Fiestas and contained over 100 beautifully decorated
vehicles. The Chamber of Commerce, Jonathan Club, Free
Harbor League, State Normal School, Pasadena High
School, Throop Polytechnic, and Los Angeles Military
Academy, each appeared with a float or a coach, and the
Mayor and Park Commissioners turned out a float of strik-
ing, beauty. Among the individual turn-outs of special
excellence were those of Griffith J. Griffith, W. B. Cline,
Mrs. S. M. Bradbury, Miss Jessie Hartwell, A. W. Skinner,
Mrs. D. S. Bassett, F. G. Kay, Robert McGarvin, Will
Knippenberg, H. G. Rissman, Mrs. J. E. Doty, Byron
Erkenbrecher, M. Esternaux, Guillermo Andrade.

A remarkable illumination that night of the business
section of the city with many thousand incandescent lights
closed the Free Harbor Jubilee.

CHAPTER XX.
The Present Work.

HELBMAIER & NEU, the contractors who offered th^
lowest "bid on the harbor work, were a Chicago tirrt?
then engaged on the drainage canal and on extensive harbor
and canal work in other sections of the Union. Long ex-
perience with harbor pitfalls had made the people of Lbs
Angeles excessively wary, and they paused to look into the
reputation and standing of the firm before rejoicing over-
much at the lowness of the bid. The investigation showed
that the Chicago men were entirely reliable; that they were
bona fide, practical contractors, and not a dummy construc-
tion company. Even Mr. Alger, after taking six long
months to investigate and think it over, could find no cause
for complaint. The contract was therefore finally let in
the summer of 1898.

The specifications which accompany the contract call for
the building of a breakwater about 850,0 feet long which
"may be increased, if found practicable, without exceeding
an aggregate cost of- $2,900,000." The depth at mean low
water along the site of the work is said to vary from 24 to
52 feet. This will call for a total of 2,290,000 long tons
of stone. The amount of stone would fill 92,000 cars or
3,680 trains.

The method of work is as follows : The foundation layer
consists of small stones,- weighing from 5 pounds up to 100
pounds, and these are spread over the bottom of the ocean,
two feet thick and as wide as may be necessary to hold the
general structure, whose bottom width varies with depth of
the water. On this foundation lies the substructure, which
consists of two parts, that below the "plane of rest," which
is a plane 12 feet below mean low water and that above it.
The whole substructure is to be made of. stone that is hard
and durable and not liable to disintegrate in sea water, and
must weigh when dry at least 1 30 pounds to the cubic foot.
No stone is to, weigh less than 100 pounds, and one-third of
each load must be made up of stones of over looo pounds
each and another third of stones of over 4000 pounds each.

202 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

This stone, which forms the great body of the work, is to be
dumped in from the bottom dumping barges on the founda-
tion of rock already laid up to the plane of rest, 55 feet out
from the center line of the breakwater on the sea side and
35 feet out on the harbor side. In short, at a point 12 feet
below low water, the wall will be 90 feet wide. The upper
section of the substructure is to be put in place when the sec-
tion below the plane of rest shall have had six months for
settlement. It measures at the top, which is near low water,
nineteen feet on each side of the center line. This gives it,
of course, a much greater slope on the sea side than on the
harbor side.

The superstructure is built of huge stones weighing from
6000 to 16,000 pounds each, arranged like steps, with the
heavier ones'on the sea side.

Thus the breakwater, when finished, will show at low tide
a flight of seven steps, with two feet risers on the harbor

^ffK • 'lulLflThi '

CROSS SBCTION OF BRBAKWAT8R WORK.

side, or of four steps of about four feet each on the sea side.
At high tide only half of the steps will be visible. Each
end of the breakwater will be formed of a single block of
concrete 40 feet square and 20 feet high. [ See accompany-
ing diagram.]

All bids were made in two forms : The contractor might
have stone from San Clemente if he choose, for nothing, as
the government own the quarries there, or he might provide
stone from private quarries at some nearer point. The Held-
maier & Neu bid asked over $300,000 more to do the work
with stone from private quarries than from San Clemente;
but when the Banning Bros., who own Catalina Island, and

THE PRESENT SITUATION. 203

the Terminal Railway had finished bidding against each
other, the contractors found the stone on Catalina Island
cheaper for actual use than that on San Clemente.

In January of 1899, Mr. Peter W. Neu,the junior member
of the firm, came to Los Angeles to take charge of the
work, but on the 4th of February he met with an unfortunate
accident in the overturning of a tally-ho, and his death
ensued. Since then the work has been under the supervision
of Mr. Ernest Heldmaier, with Mr. J. W. Wyckoflf in charge
at San Pedro, and Mr. J. S. Anunsen superintending the
quarry at Catalina. The rock is obtained from a point near
the Isthmus, 13 miles from Avalon.

Four barges have been thus far constructed, two of which
will carry 800 tons each and two 1400 tons each. At the
present time about 2600 tons of rock is pla;ced in the break-
water every week. When the barges are all constructed
they will deliver about 2500 tons per day. It will take be-
tween four and five years to finish the work.

Within two years the harbor will begin to prove ser-
viceable, particularly for purposes of refuge. To make it
valuable for commerce, a long wharf must be constructed,
costing perhaps half as much as the one that now stands at
Santa Monica. The Southern Pacific is not likely to build
such a wharf at present, and no other corporation or indi-
vidual is in a position to be sufficiently benefited to justify its
immediate construction.

The commercial situation with regard to the harbor is,
indeed, somewhat peculiar, and needs to be analyzed to be
understood. The report of the Craighill Board, it will be
remembered, called for a single curved breakwater, connect-
ing with the shore, extending out 8200 feet into the ocean
and 20 feet wide. On this it was supposed two railway
tracks would be laid, and on the harbor side short piers would
be constructed; and in this way ship and rail could be
brought together. The excellence of this plan formed the
basis of many an argument in favor of San Pedro. But the
Walker Board held that it was impracticable, and gave
the breakwater a different form. The result is a harbor
which is, as the Walker Board says, available for com-
mesrce, but it is not immediately and conveniently available.

It was always assumed by the deep-water harbor advocates

204 THE FREE HARBOR CONTES T.

that when the government should decide to undertake the
project, it would include with the work a considerable im-
provement of the inner harbor. Lieut.-Col. Benyaurd had de-
veloped a plan for i8 feet of water at low tide, which would
admit much of the coastwise trade. This was to cost under
$400,000, and it was regarded as so eminently desirable by
the members of the Free Harbor League that many of them
believed it would take precedence over any consideration of
an outside harbor. The reader who has followed this nar-
rative will remeniber that the League asked nothing more
than the interior harbor improvement at the beginning of the
harbor campaign of 1896, but when it was discovered that,
for some mysterious reason, there was an anxiety on the part
of the River and Harbor committee and the Commerce Com-
mittee to spend $3,000,000 on Santa Monica, the whole of
that sum was promptly claimed for San Pedro. In this
way the work came to be done somewhat out of the natural
and logical order. It is as though a community should con-
struct an enormous bridge with its approaches so small as
to make a great part of the structure useless.

The difficulty is of only a temporary character, and will
be remedied either by the building of piers into the outer
harbor by private enterprise or by the improvement of the
inner harbor by government action.

The work which now lies before the people of Los Angeles
is to secure an additional appropriation for the inside harbor
work. The first step has been already taken in this direction
by Senator White, who introduced in the last session of Con-
gress a resolution instructing the engineers of the govern-
ment to investigate the interior harbor of San Pedro with
a view to ascertaining its possibilities for further develop-
ment. A preliminary investigation has been made by
Capt. J. J. Meyler, and a thorough survey will presently be
undertaken. The report which in all probability will be
made to the next Congress will outline several projects of
varying cost from that of Lieut.-Col. Benyaurd for 18 feet,
at a cost of $400,000, to that proposed by Mr. White, which
involves the construction of a large and deep interior basin
at a cost of over a million. From among these projects
Congress will make a choice, and will continue and com-

THE FIGHT IS OVKR. 205

plete in the interior harbor the work begun by the construc-
tion of the break\vater.

The amount originally appropriated was $2,900,000, of
which the Heldmaier & Neu contract calls for $1,303,198.
But it must be remembered that the amount of stone re-
quired in the construction of the breakwater is not a known
definite quantity, but it is estimated, with the understand-
ing that if the amount needed goes beyond the estimate, the
contractors are to furnish the remainder at the same price
per ton. Thus, w hile we know that the breakwater will not
cost less than $1,300,000, we do not know how much more
than that sum it may cost. There is a tendency on the part
of such works to exceed the estimates. Yet the margin in
this case is so considerable — $1,600,000 — that Congress
is likely to take this into consideration in deciding whether
the San Pedro inner harbor shall receive the appropriation
necessary to make the whole project of commercial value.

In other words, having shown a willingness to spend
$2,900,000 on this improvement. Congress may be expected
to care very little w'hether it is to be spent on the outside or
the inside harbor. This is an engineering detail; and yet
action by Congress must be had in order to secure the
■ money.

There is no reason to believe that the efforts of the people
of Los Angeles to secure a logical and a necessary enlarge-
ment of the harbor work will meet with any further opposi-
tion from Mr. Huntington. As the government is now irre-
trievably committed to- the San Pedro site, the main ques-
tion will not be opened again, and no motive can exist for
interfering with a mere detail of the general project. Such
sentiments as desire for revenge or chagrin over defeat are
not to be attributed to a man of Mr. Huntington's breadth
and strength. As Mr. Arthur McEwen sagely observes,
while corporations have no souls, they are also without the
petty passions of individuals, their spite and anger and pride.
It is Mr. Huntington's chief purpose in life to develop and
enlarge and strengthen the. various commercial interests
that are under his control, and it is quite incredible that he
should turn aside from the great purposes in which he is
engaged wantonly to attack those who lie out of his path.
This matter is referred to here, because it is a not infrequent

2o6 THE free; harbor CONTEST.

subject of conjecture and discussion in Los Angeles among
those who devoted years to the harbor contest, and who
are prepared to continue with the work until their full pur-
pose is achieved. Among these people there exists no un-
friendly sentiment toward Mr. Huntington — indeed, many
of them confess to a feeling of considerable admiration for
him. They will admit without equivocation that the har-
bor is, in one sense, owed to Mr. Huntington; for it was his
powerful arm that reached over the heads of all our rep-
resentatives, in a year when economy in national expendi-
ture was especially demanded, and gathered in the great sum
that was needed for the work. The appropriation once al-
lowed for a harbor near Los Angeles, the superior merit of
San Pedro, backed up by a strong fight, placed the improve-
ment where the people of Southern California believe it prop-
erly belongs. Mr. Huntington's plans were defeated; but
it is not impossible for him to revise those plans to fit the
new conditions. Los Angeles will become a great city, and
will serve as the western gateway to an enormous commerce
across the Pacific. In the development of their large mu-
tual interests it is best for the people of Los Angeles and
for the owners of the Southern Pacific that friendship and
good wjll and unity should take the place of the warfare
that has existed through a long term of years. The original
cause of the difficulty, the question of the site of the deep-
sea harbor, has now been removed; and it will certainly not
be the fault of the intelligent business men of Los Angeles
if this unfortunate breach between . the railway and the
people is allowed to continue and to grow wider.

APPENDIX.

The full text of the two items in the Bill of 1896 relating to San
Pedro and Santa Monica is as follows :

For a deep water harbor of commerce and of refuge at Port Los An-
geles in Santa Monica Bay, California, or at San Pedro, in said State,
the location of said harbor to be determined by an oflBcer of the navy,
an o£Scer of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, to be detailed by the
Superintendent of said survey, and three experienced civil engineers,
skilled in riparian work, to be appointed by the President, who shall
constitute a Board, and who shall personally examine said harbors, the
decision of a majority of which shall be final as to the location of said
harbor. It shall be the duty of said Board to make plans, specifications
and estimates for said improvement. Whenever said Board shall have
settled the location, and made report to the Secretary of War of the
same, with said plans, specifications and estimates, the Secretary of
War may make contracts for the completion of the improvement of the
harbor so selected by said Board, according to the project reported by
them, at a cost not exceeding in the aggregate two million, nine hun-
dred thousand dollars, and fifty thousand dollars is hereby appropriated,
so much thereof as may be necessary to be used for the expenses of the
Board and payment of the civil engineers for their services, the amount
to be determined by the Secretary of War : Provided, however. That if
the Board hereby constituted, as in this section provided, shall determine
in favor of the construction of a breakwater at Port Los Angeles, no
expenditure of any part oif the money hereby appropriated shall be
made, nor shall any contract for the construction of such breakwater
be entered into, until the Southern Pacific Company or the owner or
owners thereof, shall execute an agreement, and file the same with the
Secretary of War, that any railroad company or any corporation engaged
in the business of transportation, may share in the use of the pier now
constructed at Port Los Angeles and tjie approaches and tracks leading
thereto, situate westerly of the easterly entrance to the Santa Monica
tunnel, upon such just and equitable terms as may be, agreed upon be-
tween the parties, and if they fail to agree, then to be determined by
the Secretary of War, and before the expenditure of the money hereby
appropriated is made for the construction of a breakwater at Port Los
Angeles, said Southern Pacific Company, or the owner of the tracks
and approaches leading to said pier, shall execute an agreement and file
the same with the Secretary of War, that any railroad or transportation
company or corporation desiring to construct a wharf or pier in Santa
Monica Bay may, for the purpose of approaching such wharf or pier,
and for purpose of constructing and operating the same, cross the track
or tracks, approaches and right of way now used by the Southern Pacific
Company, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary
of War, and upon the payment of such compensatipn as that officer
may find to be reasonable : Provided further. That in the event said

2o8 THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

harbor is located at Port Los Angeles, no greater royalty for the rock
used in construction of the breakwater than twelve and a half cents a
cubic yard shall be charged, and the Southern Pacific Company shall
charge uo more than half a cent a ton per mile for freight on rock
transported over its road.

' Improving Wilmington Harbor, California, in accordance with the
project, submitted February 7th, 1895, fifty thousand dol'ars :

Provided, That contracts may be entered into by the Secretary of War
for such materials and work as may be necessary to complete such
project, to be paid for as appropriations may from time to time be made
by law, not to exceied in the aggregate three hundred and forty-two
thousand dollars, exclusive of the amount herein appropriated ; but no
such contracts shall be entered into until the Board provided for in
this act to determine the location of a deep-water harbor for commerce
and of refuge, as between Port Los Angeles in Santa Monica Bay and
San Pedro, in the State of California, has made its report to the Secre-
tary of War, and not at all if said report shall be in favor of San Pedro
for the location of said harbor.

FREE HARBOR LEAGUE.

' The roll of members of the Free Harbor League contained the fol-
lowing :

Allen Bros. & Co., fruit shippers, Arnott & Sumner, farm implements,
Anderson & Chanslor, grocers, M. N. Avery, cashier German Savings
Bank, Fred L. Alles, printer, Wm. H. Avery, attorney, Avery Staub
Shoe Co., Harry B. Brook, journalist, G. B. Barham, notary public, F.
W. Braun, wholesale druggist, John Bradbury, capitalist, Bradshaw Bros.,
real estate, B. R. Baumgardt& Co., printers and publishers, John Bloser,
carpet-cleaning works, Bartlett Bros., music store, John Burr, sheriff, N.
T. Ball, cigars, L. W. Blinn, lumber, R. W. Burnham, manager Dun &
Co., A. C. Btlicke, Hollenbeck Hotel, Blanchard-Fitzgerald Co., musical
instruments, M. A. Bronson, real estate, G. W. Burton, publisher, Bar-
ker Bros , furniture, Boston Dry Goods Co., W. S. Boei-stler, lumber, C.
A. Bradley, surveyor, O. T. Bassett, lumber, M. N. Conkling, attorney,
George Carson, capitalist, John M. Carson, landowner, Alfred Craw-
fotd, coal, E. J. Cursori, coal, K. Cohn & Co., commission merchants,
Calkins & Clapp, real estate. Coulter Dry Goods Co., C. S. Compton, city
engineer, D. R. Collins, jewelry, Cortelyou & Griffin, insurance, F. T.
Capitain, architect, W. E. Dunn, City Attorney, William B. Dunning,
ihanager Chicago Clothing Co., H. C. Dillon, attorney, T. L. Duane,
banker, F. C. Devendorf, agent, C. E. Day, real estate, W. A. Driscoll,
lumber, O. R. Dougherty, capitalist, Boaz Duncan, real estate, Fred
Dorn architect, Eyraud Bros., grocers, J. G. Eagleson, men's furnishing
goods, A. A. Eckstrom, wall paper, J. M. Elliott, president First Na-
tional Bank, J. F. Francis, capitalist, C. Forrester, real estate, E. A. For-
rester, real estate, M. N. Francis, A. J. Fleishman, banker, A. W. Fran-
cisco, county supervisor, Wm. Ferguson, livery stable, E. M. Frasee, book-
keeper, T. J. Fleming, county treasurer, J. T. Gaffey, Coilector of Port,

APPENDIX. 209

T. E. Gibbon, attorney, Grider & Dow, real estate, G. J. Griffith, capi-
talist, Godfrey & Moore, druggists, George Gebhard, capitalist. Grimes
& Stassforth, stationery, A. B. Greenwald, cigars, F. A. Gibson, bank
cashier, J. T. Griffith, insurance, Guenther & Bernhard, restauranteurs,
Goldschmidt Bros., Sunset Wine Co., Gardner & Zellner, pianos,
Ganahl Lumber Co., L. W. Goden, shoes, J. M. Glass, Chief of Police,
Warren Gillelen, capitalist, H. Hawgood, civil engineer, George Hines,
wholesale butcher, Hayden & Lewis, wholesale saddlery, J. F. Hum-
phreys, real estate, B. A. Holmes, broker. Harper & Reynolds Co., hard-
ware, Hawley, King & Co., carriages, J. A. Henderson, hardware, W. A.
Hartwell, City Treasurer, F. C. Howes, banker, J. M. Hale & Co., dry
goods, John D. Hooker, manufacturer, E. C. Hodgman, County Re-
corder, C. F. Heinzman, druggist, R. M. Herron, petroleum, James W-
Hellman, hardware, F. S. Hicks, banker, R. H. Howell, real estate, Phil
Hirshfeld, stationery, C. A. Hooper, lumber, S. C. Hubbell, attorney, C.
K. HoUoway, attorney. Investor Publishing Co., H. Jevne, grocer, F. O.
Johnson, proprietor Westminster Hotel, Jacoby Bros., clothiers, Johnson
& Keeney Co., real estate, F. D. Jones, stationery, Johnson, Walton &
Carvell, fruit shippers, Frank H. Jackson, assayer, J. M. Johnston, hard-
ware, E. W. Jones, capitalist, F. M. Kelsey, public administrator, Robert
Kern, restaurantenr, Kingsley, Barnes & Neuher Co., printers and book-
binders, Kerckhoff-Cuzner Mill and Lumber Co., John Koster, restau-
rantenr, E- F. C. Klokke, capitalist, Paul Kerkow, restauranteur, Ulrich
Knock, printer, Kregelo & Breese, undertakers, J. C. Kirkpatrick, physi-
cian, William Lacy, president Puente Oil Co., Lacy Manufacturing Co.,
water pipe, I. L. Lowman, hatter, Charles A. Luckenbach, City Clerk,
C. Laux & Co., druggists, Los Angeles Lime Co., James W. Long, book-
binder, T. J. Lockhart, real estate, L. T. Ledbetter, contractor, Los An-
geles Farming and Milling Co., L. Long, merchant tailor, H. T. Lee,
attorney, J. S. Moore, capitalist, F. S. Munson, councilman, Mullen,
Bluett & Co., clothiers, J. R. Mathews, postmaster, H. K. Maynard, phy-
sician, Max Meyberg, crockery, F. L. Morgan, book-keeper, A. Morris,
agent, E. E. McKeever, commission mei'chant, Marschutz & Co., opti-
cians, John E. Murray, clerk, H. Mosgrove, cloaks, Mathews Implemen t
Co., Lee A. McConnell, real estate, Robert McGarvin, real estate, L.
Melzer, stationery, C. A. Marriner, Crescent Coal Co., A. Moss
Merwin, E. R. Meserve, real estate, M. C. Marsh, contractor, A. H. Mer-
win, tax collector, C. C. McComas, deputy district attorney, Maeder &
Priester Co., crockery, Granville McGowan, physician, A. McNally, con-
tractor, J. R. Newberry, groceries, H. Newmark, hides and wool, Nau-
erth & Cass Hardware Co., H. G. Otis, editor Los Angeles Times, H. W.
O'Melveny, attorney. Owl Drug Store, George W. Parsons, real estate,
Milo M. Potter, hotel proprietor,. Parmelee & Co., crockery. Pacific
Crockery Co., Patten & Davies, lumber, R. W. Pridham, bookbinder,
John E. Plater, banker, R. W. Poindexter, real estate, W.-C. Patterson,
banker, J. N. Priest, banker, A: E. Pomeroy, real estate, John H. T.
Peck, agent, F. A. Pattee, publisher, Frank Rader)" Mayor, W. R. Row-
land, Puente Oil Co., F. K. Rule, Terminal Railway Co., C. T. Rose-
crans, real estate, W. C. B. Richiardson, L. Roeder, capitalist, J. H-
Shankl&nd, attorney, G. H. StoU, soda water, Nathan Siegel, men's fur-

2IO

THE FREE HARBOR CONTEST.

nishing, Southern California Lumber Co., C. F. Shaffer, lumber, Sale &
Co., druggists, G. L. Stearns, manager Stearns Manufacturing Co., M. P.
Snyder Shoe Co., F. W. Stedham, city health officer, C. L. Strange, su-
perintendent buildings. Security Savings Bank and Trust Co., Savings
Bank Southern California, W. H. Stephens, attorney, Stewart & Naftz-
ger, -brokers, C. A. Sumner, real estate, R. B. Stephens, agent, Theo.
Summerland, County Assessor, Schroeder Bros., painters, C. W. Smith.
H. A. Simpson, Stephen & Hickok, agents, Salyer & Robinson, pianos,
Stimson Bros., real estate, J. Stoltenberg, collector, J. R. Scott, attorney,
Sanborn, Vail & Co., pictures, George Steckel, photographer, Francis J.
Thomas, attorney, Thomas Bros., hardware, James F. Towell, manager
Los Angeles Clearing House, F. H. Teale, City Auditor, J.- H. Trout,
druggist. Union Hardware and Metal Co., Union Iron Works, Union
Bank of Savings, Union Oil Co. of California, Frank Van Vleck, en-
gineer, B. F. Vogel & Co., druggists, W. D. Woolwine, banker, C. D.
Willard, secretary Chamber of Commerce, Charles Wier, manager South-
ern California Lumber Co., W. H. Workman, capitalist, J. I. Watson, R.
P. Winters, Riverside, lumber, Shirley C. Ward, attorney, H. J. WooUa-
cott, wholesale liquors, E. T. Wright, County Surveyor, John Wigmore,
wagon materials, T. S Wadsworth, real estate, S. O. Wood, architect,
L. R. Winans, manager lumber company, H. C. Witmer, real estate,
and 40 of the leading citizens of San Pedro, members of the San Pedro
branch of the Free Harbor League.

COMMITTEES OF THE FREE HARBOR JUBILEE.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTE.

HONORARY MBMBBRS.

Hon. Stephen M. White Col. George H. Mendel.

W. B. Cline President

T. E. Gibbon, First Vice-President

Geo. S Patton, Second Vice-President

George W. Parsons, Secretary

W, C. Patterson, Treasurer

Clias. Forman
JohoT Oaffey
Robert F. Jones
P. E. Hatch
R, H. Herron
G. W. Minter
P M. Daniel

R. H. Herron, Ch'n
M. H. Newmark
Alonzo E. Davis
R. H. Howell
J. R. Newberry
W. O. Kerckhoff

Fred I,. Baker
Ferd K. Rule
Fred J. Smith
A. P. Griffith
H. F. Norcross
G. J, Griffith
Kaspare Cohn

FINANCE.

e. H. Toll

O. T. Johnson
L. W Blinn
Sob»t McGarvin
A W. Skinner
J. S. Slauson

W. G. Nevin
John R Mathews
W. H. Workman
J Ross Clark
F. J Thomas
H, Hawgood

N. Bonfilio
T. J, Darmody
M. Esternaux
Abe Haas
M. H. Flint

INVITATION AND RECEPTION.

G.J. Griffith, Ch'n
Hon. Fred Baton
Herman Silver
Dan Freeman

M. M. Pott«r
F M. Kelsey
W. D. Woolwine
J O. Koepfli

Homer Laughlin
J. A, Muir
Eugene Germain

APPENDIX.

211

AUXItlAKT FINANCE COMMITTEE.

J. D. Stewart, San Pedro
P. E. Hatch, Long; Beach
Robert F. Jones, Santa Monica
M. H. Weight, Pasadena
W. H. Barnes, Ventura
Stoddard Jess, Pomona
M. J. Daniels, Riverside
Scipio Craig, Redlands
C, E. Bemis, Covina

A. P. Harwood, Ontario
H. L. Drew, San Bernardino
Snsith Haile, San Bernardino
N. W. Blanchard, Santa Paula
A. P. Griffith, Azusa
Thos. R. Bard, Hueneme
G W. Minter, Santa Ana
W. C. Fuller, Colton

FOREIGN KBPBBSENTATIVBS.

C. White Mortimer, British Vice-Consul, Chairman
Auguste Fusenot, French Consular Agent of Los Angeles
Mazicailian Ksternaux, German Consular Agent
Ouillermo Andrade, Mexican Consul
Victor Ponet, Belgian Vice-Consul

PUBlICITr.

L. E. Mosher, Ch'n
W. A. Spalding

C. D. Willard
Paul H. Blades

G. W. Burton

TBANSPOKTATION.

W. G. Nevin, Ch'n
G. W. Luce

S.B. Hynes
F. W. Wood

W. S. Hook

J. Ross Clark. Ch'n
F. W. Blanchard

A. C. Bilieke
W. A. Harris

Frank Van Vleck

Thomas Pascoe, Ch'n
E. L. Blanchard

DECORATIONS.

F. 5. Munson
Jas. W. Long

A. W. Kinney
C. C. Desmond

Chas. Forman, Ch'n
J. M. Elliott

LITERARY EXERCISES.

Charles Silent
C. C. Davis

BARBACUE.

Don Marco Forster, Ch'n Richard Bgan
Simon Maier W. R. Rowland

John R. Mathews, Ch'n

NAVAl DISPLAY.

George Gebhard
R. R. Haines

John T. Gaffey, Ch'n
Hancock Banning

■p. K. Rule, Ch'n
F. J. Thomas
W. H. Workman

John Alton, Ch'n

H. Hawgood, Ch'n
Ad. Petsch

L. F. Vetter

WATEB CAENIVAl.

D. A. Moore
C. O. Tucker

PLOBAt PARADE.

F. W. Kinir
W. R. Burke
C. E. Day

CHINESE PARADE.

J. D. Putnam

NIGHT FESTIVITIES.

Ozro W. Childs
C. F. Sloane
Robert Todd

Geo. J. Denis
Capt. J.J. Meyler

Fred Harkness
Walter S. Moore

Wm. M. Van Dyke

W. H. Savage

JohnC. Cline
C. S. Walton

G. N. Nolan

H. S. McKee
F. S. Hicks

SOUTHWESTERN COMMERCIAL CONGRESS.

T. E. Gibbon, Ch'n
J. S. Slauson
P. M. Daniel

R. L. Craig
John T. Gafifey
Robert F. Jones

P. E. Hatch
Walter A. Edwards
G. W. Minter